c — ^     ^ 


^n'fww999^'i^i\\\ 


VSlfJ*/^ 


f  FAMOUS  A\,eN 


^^Srj^Sr  JkSS^ 


Jf&r-  ^jsr^^' 


m 


^smmpM 


e  .<)  rdf  aetstls/raimou  smefiotm 


^ 


BERKELfiY 


UNIVERSITY 
V^^CALIfftRNIA 


I7C 


fif 


< 


FAMOUS   MEN 

OF 

ROME 


JOHN  H.  HAAREN,  LL.D. 

District  Superintendent  of  Schools 
The  City  of  New  York 

and 

A.  B.  POLAND,  Ph.D. 

Superintendent  of  Schoola 
Newark,  N.  J. 


NEW  YORK.-^  CINCINNATI -.--CHICAGO 

AMERICAN    BOOK    COMPANY 


EDUC-PSYCH 


COPTRTGHT,  1904,  BY 

UNIVERSITY  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


B-P     6 


I4x 


fiwc.- 

PSYCH. 
tIfifiARY 


PREFACE 

The  study  of  history,  like  the  study  of  a  landscape,  should 
begin  with  the  most  conspicuous  features.  Not  until  these 
have  been  fixed  in  memory  will  the  lesser  features  fall  into 
their  appropriate  places  and  assume  their  right  proportions. 

In  order  to  attract  and  hold  the  child's  attention,  each  con- 
spicuous feature  of  history  presented  to  him  should  have  an 
individual  for  its  center.  The  child  identifies  himself  with 
the  personage  presented.  It  is  not  Romulus  or  Hercules 
or  Gaesar  or  Alexander  that  the  child  has  in  mind  when  he 
reads,  but  himself,  acting  under  the  prescribed  conditions. 

Prominent  educators,  appreciating  these  truths,  have  long 
recognized  the  value  of  biography  as  a  preparation  for  the 
study  of  history  and  have  given  it  an  important  place  in 
their  schools. 

The  former  practice  in  many  elementary  schools  of  begin- 
ning the  detailed  study  of  American  history  without  any 
previous  knowledge  of  general  history  limited  the  pupiFs 
range  of  vision,  restricted  his  sympathies,  and  left  him  with- 
out material  for  comparisons.  Moreover,  it  denied  to  him  a 
knowledge  of  his  inheritance  from  the  Greek  philosopher, 
the  Roman  lawgiver,  the  Teutonic  lover  of  freedom.  Hence 
the  recommendation  so  strongly  urged  in  the  report  of  the 
Committee  of  Ten — and  emphasized,  also,  in  the  report  of 
the  Committee  of  Fifteen — that  the  study  of  Greek,  Roman, 
and  modern  European  history  in  the  form  of  biography 
should  precede  the  study  of  detailed  American  history  in  our 
elementary  schools.     The  Committee  of  Ten  recommends  an 


6  PREFACE 

eight  years'  course  in  history,  beginning  with  the  fifth  year 
in  school  and  continuing  to  the  end  of  the  high  school  course. 
The  first  two  years  of  this  course  are  given  wholly  to  the 
study  of  biography  and  mythology.  The  Committee  of  Fif- 
teen recommends  that  history  be  taught  in  all  the  grades  of 
the  elementary  school,  and  emphasizes  the  value  of  biography 
and  of  general  history. 

The  series  of  historical  stories  to  which  this  volume  be- 
longs was  prepared  in  conformity  with  the  foregoing  recom- 
mendations and  with  the  best  practice  of  leading  schools. 

Teachers  often  find  it  impracticable  to  give  to  the  study  of 
mythology  and  biography  a  place  of  its  own  in  an  already 
overcrowded  curriculum.  In  such  cases  they  prefer  to  corre- 
late history  with  reading  and  for  this  purpose  the  volumes 
of  this  series  supply  most  desirable  text-books.  It  has  been 
the  aim  of  the  authors  to  make  an  interesting  story  of  each 
man's  life  and  to  tell  these  stories  in  a  style  so  simple  that 
pupils  in  the  lower  grades  will  read  them  with  pleasure,  and 
so  dignified  that  they  may  be  used  with  profit  as  text-books 
for  reading. 

The  value  of  the  illustrations  can  scarcely  be  overestimated. 
They  will  be  found  to  surpass  in  number  and  excellence  any- 
thing heretofore  offered  in  a  school  book.  For  the  most  part 
they  are  reproductions  of  world-famous  pictures,  and  for  that 
reason  the  artists'  names  are  generally  affixed. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAOB 

I    EoMULUS  (753-716  B.C.) .9 

II  NUMA  PoMPiLius  (715-672  B.C.)     ....    25 

III  The  Horatu  and  the  Curiath  (about  650  B.C.).    33 

IV  The  Tarquins  (616-510  B.C.)         ....    39 
V  Junius  Brutus  (consul  in  509  B.C.)      .       .       .    51 

VI    HoRATius  (about  509  B.C.) 58 

VII  Mucius  THE  Left-Handed  (509  B.C.)  .       .        .61 

VIII  CORIOLANUS  (about  500-450  B.C.)   .        .        .        .64 

IX  The  Fabii  (about  500-477  B.C.)      .        .        .        .    72 

X  Cincinnatus  (about  519-439  B.C.).        .        .        .    76 

XI  Camillus  (died  365  B.C.) 

XII  Manlius  Torquatus  (died  384  B.C.)     . 

XIII  Appius  CLAUDros  C^cus  (died  about  280  b, 

XIV  Eegulus  (died  about  250  B.c.) 
XV  SciPio  Africanus  (234-183  B.C.)   . 

XVI  Cato  the  Censor  (234-149  b.c.)  . 

XVII  The  Gracchi  (163-121  b.c.)  . 

XVIII  Marius  (155-86  B.C.)       . 

XIX  Sulla  (138-78  B.C.)        .... 


o.) 


99 
104 
114 
122 
135 
142 
148 
162 


8 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTEB 

XX  PoMPEY  THE  Great  (106-48  b.o.) 

XXI  Julius  C^sar  (100-44  B.C.) 

XXII  Cicero  (102-43  B.C.) 

XXin  Augustus  (63  b.  0.-14  a.d.) 

XXIV  Nero  (37-68  a.d.)    . 

XXV  Titus  (40-81  a.d.)   . 

XXVI  Trajan  (53-119  a.d.)      . 

XXVII  Marcus  Aurelius  (121-180  a.d.) 

XXVIII  Constantine  the  Great  (272-337  a.d 


PAGE 

171 
181 
203 
209 
219 
230 
236 
242 
254 


XXTX    End  of  the  Western  Empire  (361-476  a.d.)     .  262 


FAMOUS   MEI^   OF  ROME 

ROMULUS 


Many,  many  years  ago,  in  tlie  pleasant  land  of 
Italy,  there  was  a  little  city  called  Alba.  It  stood 
on  the  sunny  side  of  a  mountain,  near  the  River 
Tiber  and  not  far  from  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  In 
this  city  and  around  the  mountain  lived  a  brave, 
intelligent  people  known  as  Latins.  Several  other 
tribes  inhabited  the  adjacent  mountains  and  plains. 

The  Latins  were  ruled  by  kings,  and  one  of  their 
kings  in  very  early  times  was  named  ^-ne'as.  He 
was  a  famous  Trojan  chief  who  had  come  over  the 
seas  to  Italy  and  settled  there  with  his  family  and 
friends  after  Troy  was  destroyed  by  the  Greeks. 

A  great  many  years  after  the  death  of  ^neas  one 
of  his  descendants  named  Pro'cas  was  king  of  Alba. 
He  ruled  wisely  and  well  for  a  long  time,  and  his 
rather  small  kingdom  on  the  mountain  side,  with  its 


10  FAMOUS  MEN   OF   ROME 

wheat-fields  and  vineyards,  was  very  prosperous. 
He  had  two  sons,  one  named  Nu 'mi-tor,  and  the 
other  A-mu'li-us.  As  Numitor  was  the  elder  he  was 
heir  to  his  father's  throne,  but  when  King  Procas 
died  Amulius  seized  the  kingdom  by  force  and 
made  himself  king. 

Then  Numitor,  with  his  two  children,  a  boy  and  a 
girl,  left  the  king's  palace  at  Alba  and  went  to 
reside  on  a  farm  a  short  distance  away. 


yj% 


n 


Amulius  was  now  king,  but  h-e  did  not  feel  quite 
happy.  He  was  much  troubled  about  Numitor's 
son  and  daughter.  The  son,  he  thought,  might  some 
day  claim  the  right  to  be  king  as  heir  of  his  father, 
or  the  daughter  might  marry  and  have  a  son  who 
could  become  king  as  grandchild  of  Numitor. 

To  prevent  either  of  these  things  from  happening 
Amulius  had  Numitor's  son  secretly  put  to  death, 
and  he  appointed  the  daughter  Syl'vi-a  to  be  a 
priestess,  or  an  attendant,  in  the  temple  of  the  god- 
dess Ves'ta.  Only  young  girls  were  appointed  at- 
tendants in  this  temple,  and  they  had  to  take  a  vow 
that  they  would  not  marry  for  thirty  years.  They 
were  called  Vestal  Virgins.     It  was  their  duty  to 


ROMULUS 


11 


keep  a  fire  burning  continually  on  the  altar  of  tlie 
goddess.  This  was  called  the  Sacred  Fire,  and  it 
was  believed  that  if  it  went  out  some  great  disaster 
would  happen  to  the  city. 

Amulius  now  thought  there  was  nothing  to  hinder 
him  from  being  king  of  Alba  all  his  life.  But  one 
day  the  god  Mars  came  down  to  the  city  from  his 


SCHOOL  OF  THE  VESTAL  VUIGINS 


LeJioux 


palace  on  a  high  mountain  top  and  saw  Sylvia  as 
'  she  went  out  of  the  temple  to  get  water  at  a  well. 
He  fell  deeply  in  love  with  her.  She  also  fell  in  love 
with  the  god,  for  he  had  the  appearance  of  a  hand- 
some young  man.  They  were  ndarried  secretly,  and 
in  course  of  time  Sylvia  had  beautiful  twin  boys. 
When  Amulius  heard  of  this  he  gave  orders  that 
Sylvia  should  be  put  to  death  for  breaking  her  vow 
and  that  the  two  infants,  should  be  thrown  into  the 


12  FAMOUS   MEN   OF   ROME 

Tiber.  These  wicked  orders  were  carried  out,  for 
no  one  dared  to  disobey  the  king. 

Fortunately,  however,  the  babes  had  been  placed 
in  a  stout  basket,  which  floated  along  the  Tiber 
until  it  was  carried  by  the  waters  to  the  foot  of 
a  hill  called  Para-tine  Hill.  Here  the  huge  roots 
of  a  wild  fig-tree  upset  the  basket,  and  the  little 
ones  were  thrown  out  upon  the  river  bank. 

At  this  moment  a  great  she-wolf  came  strolling 
down  the  hill  to  drink  at  the  river's  edge.  She 
heard  the  feeble  cries  of  the  infants  and  went  to 
the  place  where  they  lay  hel]3less  on  the  wet 
sands.  She  touched  them  gently  with  her  rough 
paws,  turned  them  over  and  licked  their  faces  and 
plump  bodies.  Perhaps  she  thought  they  were 
some  of  her  own  cubs.  At  any  rate,  she  carried  the 
babes  up  the  hill  to  her  cave  under  a  large  rock. 
There  she  fed  them  as  she  fed  her  own  cubs  and 
seemed  pleased  to  have  them  near  her.  It  is  said 
that  a  woodpecker  flew  in  and  out  of  the  cave  many 
times  a  day,  bringing  berries  for  the  boys  to  eat. 

One  morning  as  Faus'tu-lus,  the  herdsman  of 
King  Amulius,  was  going  over  Palatine  Hill  look- 
ing for  cattle  that  had  gone  astray  he  saw  the 
boys  playing  with  the  wolf  at  the  mouth  of  her 
cave.  He  frightened  the  wolf  away  and  took  the 
boys  to  his  home.     His  wife  pitied  the  little  found- 


ROMULUS 


18 


lings  and  cared  for  them  as  though  they  were  her 
own  children. 

The  herdsman  named  them  Rom'u-lus  and 
Re'mus.  They  grew  up  to  be  strong,  handsome 
youths,  brave  and  kind.  Until  they  were  twenty 
years  old  they  lived  with  the  herdsman  and  helped 


liOMULUS   AND  IlEMUS 


Rubens 


him  in  his  work,  and  roamed  over  the  hills  light- 
hearted  and  free. 

During  all  these  years  l^umifcor  lived  on  his 
farm  and  his  brother  Amulius  remained  king  of 
Alba.  Numitor  did  not  know  that  his  two  grand- 
sons had  been  saved  from  a  watery  grave  and  were 
living  so  near  to  him. 

But  one  day  Remus  had  a  quarrel  with  some  of 
the  herdsmen  of  Numitor,  and  they  took  him  pris- 


14  FAMOUS   MEN   OF   ROME 

oner."  They  then  brought  him  before  Numitor, 
who  was  much  impressed  with  the  noble  appearance 
of  the  youth  and  asked  him  who  he  was. 

Eemus  told  all  he  knew  about  himself  and 
E-omulus ;  how  they  had  been  found  at  the  cave  of 
the  she-wolf  and  had  been  reared  by  the  king's 
herdsman.  Just  then  Faustulus  and  Romulus  came 
searching  for  Remus,  and  were  full  of  joy  when  they 
found  that  no  harm  had  come  to  him.  Numitor 
questioned  the  herdsman  about  the  finding  of  the 
twins,  and  after  hearing  his  story  was  convinced 
that  Romulus  and  Remus  were  Sylvia's  boys,  who 
had  been  strangely  saved  from  the  wrath  of  their 
cruel  uncle.  He  was  very  happy  at  finding  his 
grandsons  and  he  thanked  the  herdsman  for  his 
good  care  of  them. 

Romulus  and  Remus  were  also  very  happy  at  find- 
ing a  grandfather  and  at  the  sudden  change  of  their 
fortune.  When  they  were  told  about  Amulius  and 
his  wicked  deeds,  they  resolved  to  punish  him  for 
the  murder  of  their  mother.  So  with  a  few  follow- 
ers they  rushed  to  the  palace  at  Alba  and  entered 
the  king's  chamber. 

"  Behold !  we  are  Sylvia's  sons  whom  you 
thought  you  had  killed,"  they  shouted  to  Amulius, 
as  he  started  up  in  alarm  at  their  entrance.  "You 
killed  our  mother  and  you  shall  die  for  it." 


ROMULUS  15 

Before  he  could  utter  a  word  they  sprang  on  him 
with  drawn  swords  and  cut  his  head  off.  Then  they 
brought  Numitor  to  the  palace,  and  the  people  wel- 
comed him  as  the  rightful  king  of  Alba. 

Ill 

After  a  little  time  the  two  brothers  thought 
they  would  build  a  city  on  Palatine  Hill,  where  the 
she-wolf  had  nursed  them.  So  they  went  to  the 
hill  and  selected  a  site.  Then  they  began  to  talk 
of  a  name  for  their  city. 

"  I  will  be  king  and  give  the  new  city  my  name," 
said  Romulus. 

"No,"  cried  Remus.  "I  will  be  the  king  and 
name  the  city  after  myself.  I  have  just  as  much 
right  as  you  have." 

So  the  brothers  argued  for  a  while,  but  at  last 
they  agreed  to  settle  the  matter  in  this  way : 

At  midnight  Romulus  was  to  stand  on  Palatine 
Hill,  and  Remus  was  to  stand  on  another  hill  a  short 
distance  off.  Then  they  were  to  ask  the  gods  to 
show  them  a  sign  of  favor  in  the  sky,  and  the  first 
who  should  see  anything  very  remarkable  was  to 
name  the  new  city  and  be  its  king. 

So  they  went  to  watch,  but  nothing  appeared 
until  sunrise  of  the  second  day,  when  Remus  saw 


16  FAMOUS  MEN   OF  ROME 

six  great  vultures  flying  across  the  sky  from  north 
to  south.  He  ran  swiftly  to  Palatine  Hill  and  told 
Eomulus  of  what  he  had  seen.  But  just  then 
twelve  vultures,  one  after  another,  flew  high  over 
the  head  of  Romulus  in  an  almost  unbroken  line 
and  were  soon  lost  to  view. 

Then  Eomulus  claimed  that  he  had  the  favor  of 
the  gods,  as  more  birds  had  appeared  to  him,  but 
Remus  claimed  that  the  gods  favored  him,  as  the- 
birds  had  appeared  to  him  first.  Romulus  asked 
the  opinion  of  some  of  his  friends,  and  as  they  all 
agreed  that  he  was  right  in  his  claim  he  paid  no 
further  attention  to  Remus,  but  began  to  lay  out 
the  new  city.  He  gave  it  the  name  of  Roma,  or 
Rome,  after  himself.  With  a  plow  he  marked  out 
the  space  on  Palatine  Hill  and  along  the  banks  of 
the  Tiber,  and  he  built  a  low  wall  round  about  to 
protect  the  city  from  invaders. 

One  day  while  the  work  was  going  on  Remus 
came  by  in  a  very  bitter  mood.  He  was  still  angry 
with  Romulus.  He  laughed  scornfully  at  the  little 
wall    and  said  to  his  brother: 

"  Shall  such  a  defence  as  this  keep  your  city  ?  It 
may  prevent  children  from  getting  in,  but  not  men, 
for  they  can  Jump  over  it." 

So  saying,  Remus  put  his  hands  on  the  wall  and 
sprang  over  it,  to  show  that  his  words  were  true. 


ROMULUS  17 

Romulus,  in  a  sudden  outburst  of  rage,  struck  him 
on  tlie  liead  with  a  spade  and  instantly  killed  him, 
at  the  same  time  crying  out : 

"  So  perish  any  one  who  shall  hereafter  attempt  to 
leap  over  my  wall." 

Then  Romulus  continued  his  work.  While  he 
was  building  his  wall  he  also  built  some  houses. 
The  first  houses  were  nothing  more  than  wood  huts 
covered  with  mud  and  straw.  But  in  course  of 
time  the  Romans  had  houses  of  stone,  and  they 
built  fine  temples  and  theatres  and  streets  and 
squares,  and  at  last  Rome  became  the  greatest  and 
grandest  city  in  the  whole  world. 


IV 


Romulus  founded  Rome  In  the  year  753  B.C. 
After  he  had  built  his  city  he  had  some  difficulty 
in  getting  people  to  live  in  it.  He  had  only  a  few 
followers  and  was  not  able  to  obtain  any  more. 
He  decided,  therefore,  to  make  Rome  a  place  of 
refuge,  to  which  people  who  had  got  into  trouble 
in  other  countries  might  come  for  safety. 

And  so  when  those  who  had  committed  crime  in 
other  places,  and  had  to  fiee  to  escape  punishment, 
found  out  that  Romulus  would  give  them  a  refuge, 


18  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

they  came  in  large  numbers  to  his  city.  People 
also  came  who  had  been  driven  from  home  by  ene- 
mies, or  had  run  away  for  one  reason  or  another. 
It  was  not  long,  therefore,  until  Rome  was  full  of 
men.  There  were  men  from  many  different  tribes 
•and  countries.  Thus  the  Roman  nation  began,  and 
for  years  it  steadily  grew  and  prospered. 

But  the  Romans  were  much  troubled  about  one 
thing.  A  great  many  of  them  had  no  wives,  and 
they  could  not  get  any,  because  the  women  of  the 
neighboring  tribes  would  not  marry  them,  for  the 
Romans  had  a  bad  name.  Romulus  was  very 
anxious  that  his  people  should  have  good  wives,  but 
how  they  should  get  them  greatly  puzzled  him  for 
a  long  time.  At  last  he  hit  upon  a  plan  and  began 
at  once  to  cany  it  out. 

He  sent  messengers  to  the  cities  all  around  to 
announce  that  on  a  certain  day  a  great  festival  in 
honor  of  the  god  Ju'pi-ter  would  be  held  on  the 
plain  in  front  of  Rome.  There  were  to  be  games, 
combats,  horse-racing,  and  other  sports.  The  people 
were  invited  to  attend  the  festival  and  also  to 
take  part  in  the  contests  for  the  prizes. 

When  the  festival  day  came  a  multitude  of  men 
and  women  from  far  and  near  assembled  before  the 
walls  of  Rome.  Hundreds  of  pretty  girls  were 
there  in  fine   dresses.     A  great  many   came  fj-om 


ROMULUS 


19 


the  Sa'bine  tribe.  This  was  a  tribe  of  warriors  that 
lived  on  a  mountain  near  Rome. 

Suddenly  Eomulus  blew  a  loud  blast  upon  a 
horn.  Then,  quick  as  a  flash,  the  E-omans  seized 
the  girls  and  bore  them  off  to  Rome. 

The  Sabines  were  greatly  enraged  at  this,  and 


! 

^ 

1           '^    ^ 

1 

- 

"-%a...,. 

1 

ROMANS   SEIZING  THE  SABINE  WOMEN 


Rinaldo 


their  king,  Ti'tus  Ta'ti-us,  raised  a  large  army  and 
at  once  began  a  war  against  the  Romans.  The  war 
went  on  for  three  years,  but  the  Sabines  were  so 
strong  that  Romulus  could  not  defeat  them  in  the 
field.  He  therefore  withdrew  his  army  into  the 
city.  King  Tatius  quickly  marched  after  him,  re- 
solved to  take  Rome  or  perish  in  the  attempt. 

Now  Romulus  had  erected  a  strong  fortress  on  a 


20  FAMOUS  MEN   OF  ROME 

hill  near  the  Palatine,  to  keep  invaders  from  Rome. 
The  hill  was  called  the  Sa-tur'ni-an  Hill,  and  the 
fortress  was  in  charge  of  a  brave  Eoman  captain, 
who  had  a  daughter  named  Tar-pe'i-a. 

When  the  Sabines  reached  this  fortress  they  could 
go  no  further.  They  marcbed  up  and  down  seeking 
for  a  spot  where  they  might  force  an  entrance,  but 
they  could  find  none.  There  was  a  small,  barred 
gate  in  the  fortress,  and  through  this  gate  Tarpeia 
came  out  to  get  water.  King  Tatius  saw  her.  He 
at  once  stepped  forward  and  said  : 

"  Fair  maiden,  open  the  gate  and  let  us  in.  If  you 
do  you  shall  have  for  your  reward  anything  you  ask." 

Tarpeia  was  gazing  with  admiration  at  the  brace- 
lets of  gold  which  the  Sabines  wore  on  their  arms. 

^'  I  will  open  the  gate,"  said  she,  "  if  you  will  give 
me  some  of  those  things  which  your  soldiers  wear 
upon  their  arms." 

King  Tatius  agreed,  and  Tarpeia  opened  the  gate. 
As  the  Sabines  strode  past  the  silly  maiden  each 
threw  at  her,  not  his  bracelet,  but  his  shield. 

The  shield  then  used  was  round  or  oblong  and 
made  of  bronze,  or  of  wicker-work  or  ox-hide  cov- 
ered with  metal  plates.  It  had  two  handles  at  the 
back,  and  the  soldier  held  it  with  his  left  hand  and 
arm  so  that  he  could  move  it  up  or  down  to  save 
his  head  or  breast  from  blows. 


ROMULUS  21 

Tarpeia  stood  in  amazement  as  the  heavy  shields 
began  to  pile  up  around  her.  One  struck  her, 
and  then  another  and  another.  At  last  she  fell  to 
the  ground  and  was  soon  crushed  to  death. 

When  the  soldiers  saw  that  Tarpeia  was  dead, 
tliey  took  up  the  shields  they  had  thrown  at  her. 
Then  they  hurled  her  body  from  the  top  of  a  great 
rock  that  was  near  the  gate  she  had  opened.  The 
rock  was  afterwards  known  as  the  Tarpeiau  Rock, 
and  for  hundreds  of  years  the  punishment  for 
traitors  in  Rome  was  to  be  thrown  from  this  rock. 

As  soon  as  they  passed  the  fortress  the  Sabines 
ran  down  the  Saturnian  Hill  to  make  an  attack  on 
Rome.  But  Romulus  and  his  band  of  warriors 
bravely  came  out  of  the  city  to  drive  back  the 
enemy.  The  two  forces  met  in  the  valley,  and 
then  a  fierce  battle  beo-an. 

But  while  they  were  fighting  a  crowd  of  excited 
women  came  running  from  the  city.  They  were  the 
Sabine  women  whom  the  Romans  had  carried  off. 
Some  of  them  had  their  infants  in  their  arms  and 
they  rushed  between  the  lines  of  soldiers  and 
begged  that  the  fight  should  stop. 

"  Do  not  fight  any  more  for  us,''  they  said  to  their 
fathers  and  brothers.  "AVe  love  the  Romans  we 
have  married.  They  have  been  good  to  us,  and 
we  do  not  Avish  to  leave  them." 


ROMULUS  23 

Of  course,  this  settled  the  matter.  Romulus  had 
a  talk  with  King  Tatius,  and  they  agreed  not  to 
fight  any  more.  They  also  agreed  that  the  two 
nations  should  be  as  one.  They  joined  their  govern- 
ments and  their  armies,  and  each  of  the  kings  had 
equal  power. 

Soon  afterwards  King  Tatius  died.  Then  Romu- 
lus ruled  alone  for  nearly  forty  years.  He  was  a 
wise  and  just  king  and  did  a  great  deal  of  good  for 
his  people.  He  established  a  body  called  the  Senate, 
to  help  him  in  important  affairs  of  government.  It 
was  called  the  Senate  from  senex^  the  Latin  word  for 
an  old  man.  It  was  formed  of  the  chiefs  or  old  men 
of  the  earliest  settlers  in  Rome.  The  descendants 
of  those  settlers  were  called  patricians,  or  fathers, 
from  the  Latin  word  pater,  a  father.  They  were 
the  nobles,  or  upper  class,  in  Rome.  The  ordinary 
citizens  were  called  plebeians,  from  plehs,  the  Latin 
word  for  the  common  people, 

Romulus  took  care  to  train  up  the  young  Romans 
to  be  good  soldiers.  Outside  the  city,  along  the 
bank  of  the  Tiber,  there  was  a  great  plain  which 
in  later  times  was  called  Cam'pus  Mar'ti-us,  or 
Field  of  Mars.  Here  the  Roman  soldiers  were 
drilled.  They  were  taught  how  to  use  the  spear 
and  the  javelin  and  the  sword  and  the  shield.  They 
were  also  exercised  in  running   and  jumping,  and 


24  FAMOUS   MEN   OF  ROME 

wrestling  and  swimming,  and  carrying  heavy  loads. 
Thus  the  young  men  were  made  fit  to  bear  the 
hardships  of  war  and  to  fight  and  win  battles  for 
their  country. 

It  is  related  that  in  his  old  age  Romulus  suddenly 
disappeared  from  the  earth.  He  called  his  people 
together  on  a  great  field  one  day,  and  while  he  was 
speaking  to  them  a  violent  storm  came  on.  The 
rain  fell  in  torrents,  and  the  lightning  and  thunder 
were  so  terrible  that  the  people  fled  to  their  homes. 

When  the  storm  was  over  the  people  went  back 
to  the  field,  but  Romulus  was  nowhere  to  be  found. 
Then  it  was  said  that  his  father,  the  god  Mars, 
had  taken  him  up  to  the  clouds  in  a  golden  chariot. 

Next  morning  at  early  dawn  a  Roman  citizen 
named  Ju'li-us  saw  a  figure  descending  from  the 
heavens.  It  had  the  appearance  of  Romulus,  and  it 
approached  Julius  and  said : 

"  Go  and  tell  my  people  that  it  is  the  will  of  the 
gods  that  Rome  shall  be  the  greatest  city  of  the 
world.  Let  them  be  brave  and  warlike,  and  no 
human  power  shall  be  able  to  conquer  them." 

Afterwards  the  Romans  worshiped  Romulus  as 
a  god.  They  worshiped  him  under  the  name 
Quir'i-nus,  which  was  one  of  the  names  of  the  god 
Mars,  and  they  built  a  temple  to  him  on  a  hill 
which  was  called  the  Quir'i-nal  Hill. 


NUMA   POMPILIUS 


For  a  year  after  the  disappearance  of  E-omulus 
there  was  no  king  of  Rome.  The  city  was  ruled  by 
the  Senate.  But  the  people  were  not  satisfied.  They 
preferred  to  be  ruled  by  one  man,  and,  though  they 
had  the  right  to  elect  a  king  themselves,  they  left 
the  choice  to  the  Senate.  The  Senate  chose  Nu'ma 
Pom-pil'i-us,  a  very  good  and  wise  man,  who 
belonged  to  the  nation  of  the  Sabines. 

The  first  thing  that  Numa  did  after  learning  that 
he  had  been  chosen  king  was  to  consult  the  augurs, 
to  find  out  if  it  was  the  will  of  the  gods  that  he 
should  be  the  ruler  of  Rome. 

The  augurs  were  what  we  should  call  fortune- 
tellers. A  number  of  them  lived  in  Rome.  They 
were  much  respected  and  occupied  a  large  temple 
at  the  expense  of  the  public.  They  pretended  that 
by  watching  the  sky  and  observing  how  birds  and 
animals  acted  they  could  tell  what  would  hap- 
pen to  people  and  to  nations.      Then  when  they 


26 


FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 


were  alone  they  would  have  a  great  deal  of 
fun  over  the  tricks  they  played  upon  the  foolish 
people. 

Numa  made  many  important  changes  at  the  very 
beginning  of  his  rule.  Before  he  came  to  the  throne 
Roman  young  men  were  brought  up  to  no  business 

but  war.  It  was 
considered  disgrace- 
ful for  a  Roman 
citizen,  whether  rich 
or  poor,  to  work  at 
any  trade  or  manu- 
facture. The  slaves, 
who  were  persons 
taken  prisoners  in 
wars,  did  all  the 
hard  work.  They 
made  all  the  cloth- 
ing, tools,  arms,  and 
household  articles. 
They  cooked  and 
served  the  meals, 
and  were  general  servants  for  the  Roman  fami- 
lies. Roman  citizens  might,  however,  without 
being  degraded  work  on  farms  and  vineyards, 
and  many  of  them  made  their  living  in  this 
way. 


Gerome 
TWO  AUGURS  LAUGHING  AT  THE  PEOPLE 


NUMA  POMPILIUS  27 

Shortly  after  King  Numa  began  his  reign  he 
divided  some  of  the  public  lands  into  small 
farms  and  gave  one  of  these  farms  to  every 
poor  Roman.  The  public  lands  were  lands  that 
belonged  to  the  nation  and  not  to  private  per- 
sons. 

It  was  rather  hard  at  first  for  the  new-made 
farmers  to  be  contented  on  their  farms  and  to  do 
good  work.  They  were  mostly  soldiers  and  had 
very  little  knowledge  of  anything  except  marching 
and  fighting.  But  it  was  not  long  before  they  be- 
gan to  understand  what  a  blessing  it  is  to  be  self- 
supporting  and  independent.  Their  little  farms 
were  pleasant  homes.  They  began  to  love  their 
new  life  and  soon  were  able  to  raise  enough  for 
the  support  of  themselves  and  their  families,  with 
something  to  spare. 


n 


King  Numa  made  many  good  laws.  These  laws 
were  engraved  on  tablets  of  brass  and  at  certain 
times  were  read  and  explained  to  the  people  by 
lawyers. 

Numa  was  very  friendly  with  the  people  of  the 
countries  surrounding  Rome.  He  gave  them  help  in 
times  of   trouble   and  would  never  listen  to  any 


28  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

talk  of  war  with  them.  During  the  many  years  that 
he  was  king  Rome  had  no  enemies  and  no  wars. 

In  a  sacred  grove,  just  outside  the  walls  of  Rome, 
there  lived  in  a  handsome  grotto,  or  cavern,  a 
beautiful  woman  named  E-ge'ri-a.  Some  persons 
called  her  a  goddess,  while  others  thought  she  was 
a  fairy.  She  seemed  to  have  a  great  knowledge  of 
magic  and  could  do  wonderful  things.  Whenever 
she  called  to  the  song-birds  they  would  come  flying 
around  her.  They  would  also  perch  on  her  head 
and  shoulders  and  hands,  and  sing  their  sweetest 
songs.  Even  the  fierce  animals  of  the  woods  were 
her  friends,  and  great  bears  and  wolves  would  lie 
at  her  feet  for  hours  and  purr  like  cats. 

This  mysterious  woman-goddess,  or  fairy,  or 
whatever  she  was,  greatly  loved  and  honored  good 
King  Numa,  and  at  last  they  were  married.  Then 
she  taught  him  many  of  the  magical  secrets  she 
possessed.  He  carefully  studied  the  lessons  she 
gave  him,  and  in  time  he  was  able  to  do  wonderful 
things  himself. 

Ill 

The  Romans  were  earnest  worshipers  of  the 
gods  and  goddesses.  They  believed  that  there 
were  many  such  beings,  and  they  had  many  grand 
temples  for  religious  service. 


NUMA  POMPILIUS  29 

King  Numa  always  paid  great  attention  to 
religion.  He  appointed  a  large  number  of  officials 
to  take  care  of  the  temples,  and  to  see  that  all  the 
sacred  ceremonies  were  properly  carried  out.  He 
was  constant  and  faithful  in  his  own  worship  and 
thus,  by  his  example,  gradually  induced  the  w^hole 
Roman  people  to  become  attentive  to  their  religion. 

The  greatest  of  the  gods  that  the  Romans  believed 
in  was  the  god  Jupiter.  He  was  supposed  to  rule 
both  the  sky  and  the  earth.  He  was  so  powerful 
that  he  could  send  thunderbolts  from  the  heavens, 
and  make  the  earth  tremble  by  his  nod.  He  had  a 
wife  named  Ju'no  who  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with 
managing  the  affairs  of  the  earth.  It  was  at  one 
time  believed  that  Jupiter  resided  with  many  other 
gods  on  the  top  of  a  high  mountain  in  Greece.  This 
mountain  was  so  thickly  covered  by  clouds  that  the 
gods  could  not  be  seen.  But  they  could  see  every- 
thing that  took  place  on  the  earth. 

Jupiter  had  tw^o  brothers  named  Nep'tune  and 
Plu'to.  Neptune  was  the  god  of  the  sea.  He  lived 
in  a  grand,  golden  palace  at  the  bottom  of  the 
Mediterranean.  He  ruled  everything  under  and 
upon  the  waters  of  the  world.  Now  and  then  he 
sailed  over  the  ocean  in  a  grand  chariot  drawn  by 
large  fish  called  dolphins.  When  he  was  angry  he 
caused  the  sea  to  rise  in  huge  waves. 


30 


FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 


Pluto,  the  other  brother  of  Jupiter,  was  the  god 
of  Ha'des,  or  the  land  of  the  dead.  His  home  was 
far  down  in  the  earth,  where  all  was  dark  and 
gloomy.  The  Romans  believed  that  when  people 
died  they  were  borne  away  to  the  gloomy  king- 
dom of  Pluto. 

The  other  principal  gods  were  Mars,  Mer'cu-ry, 

Vul'can,      A-pol'lo,    and 
Ja'nus. 

Mars  was  the  god  of 
war,  and  was  especially 
honored  in  Rome  because 
it  was  believed  that  he 
was  the  father  of  Rom- 
ulus. Certain  days  of  the 
year  were  made  festival 
days  in  his  honor,  and 
then  there  were  splendid 
processions,  songs  of 
praise,  and  religious  dances. 

Mercury,  the  son  of  Jupiter,  was  the  god  of  elo- 
quence and  commerce.  He  was  also  tha  messenger 
of  the  other  gods.  He  was  generally  represented  as 
flying  swiftly  through  the  air,  carrying  messages 
from  place  to  place.  On  his  head  and  feet  were 
small  wings,  and  in  his  hand  he  bore  a  golden 
staff  with  serpents  twined  around  it. 


"^^ 


MARS 


NUMA  POMPELIUS 


81 


Vulcan  was  a  skillful  worker  in  metals.  He  had 
a  great  forge  in  the  heai*t  of  a  burning  mountain, 
where  he  made  wonderful  things  of  iron,  copper, 
and  gold.  He  looked  after  the  welfare  of  black- 
smiths, coppersmiths,  and  goldsmiths,  and  was 
their  special  god. 

Apollo,  also  called  Phoe'bus,  which  meant  the  sun, 
was  the  god  of  day.  He  gave 
light  and  heat  to  the  world. 
He  was  also  the  god  of  music, 
archery,  and  medicine.  His 
sister  Di-a'na  was  the  moon 
goddess  or  goddess  of  the 
night.  She  was  also  the  god- 
dess of  hunting.  In  pictures 
she  is  sometimes  represented 
with  a  quiver  of  arrows  over 
her  shoulder  and  holding  a 
stag  by  the  horns. 

The  god  Janus  was  very 
much  honored  by  the  Romans.  It  was  believed 
that  this  god  presided  over  the  beginning  of  every 
undertaking,  and  so  when  the  Romans  began  any 
important  work  or  business  they  prayed  first  to 
Janus.  For  this  reason  the  first  month  or  begin- 
ning of  the  year  was  called  the  month  of  Janus, 
or  Jamtary.     Janus  was  also  the  god  of  gates  and 


DIANA 


32  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

doors.  In  statuary  and  pictures  he  is  often  shown 
with  two  faces  looking  in  opposite  directions,  be- 
cause every  door  faces  two  ways — outward  and 
inward. 

Numa  Pompilius  built  a  temple  in  honor  of 
Janus.     The  door  of  this  temple  was  always  open 

in  time  of  war,  as  a  sign  that 
the  god  had  gone  out  to  help 
the    Romans.      In   time    of 
peace  the  door  was  shut. 
^^^^^J^^  The  Romans  also  believed 

inVe'nuSjthe  goddess  of  love; 
Mi-nerVa,  the  goddess  of  wis- 
dom; Flora,  the  goddess  of 
flowers,  and  many  others. 
The  Romans  had  no 
^^^^^  special  day,  such  as  our  Sun- 

day, for  religious  service,  but  their  temples  (except 
the  temple  of  Janus)  were  open  every  day.  They 
had  prayers  and  songs,  and  sometimes  Avhat  they 
called  sacred  dances.  They  also  made  offerings  to 
the  gods,  such  as  fruits  or  vegetables,  and  oxen, 
lambs,  or  goats.  The  offerings  went  finally  into 
the  hands  of  the  priests  of  the  temples. 

Numa  Pompilius  reigned  for  nearly  half  a  century, 
and  under  him  the  Romans  were  a  peaceful,  prosper- 
ous, and  happy  people. 


THE   HORATII   AND   THE   CURIATII 


The  third  king  of  Rome  was  Tul'lus  Hos-til'i-us. 
In  his  reign  a  remarkable  combat  took  place  be- 
tween three  Roman  brothers  and  three  Latin 
brothers.     The  combat  came  about  in  this  way : 

For  years  the  people  of  Rome  and  the  people  of 
Alba,  also  called  Latins,  as  has  been  already  said, 
were  continually  quarreling.  They  would  invade 
and  plunder  each  other's  lands.  At  last,  after 
many  petty  contests,  war  was  declared  between  the 
two  nations. 

King  Tullus  marched  the  Roman  army  to  the 
border  of  Alba,  but  here  his  progress  was  stopped 
by  a  great  force  of  Latins,  under  the  command  of 
Met'ti-us,  the  Alban  king. 

Tullus  looked  at  the  strong  lines  of  Latin  soldiers, 
standing  firm  and  resolute  to  resist  the  advance  of 
the  Romans,  and  thought  that  it  might  be  well  to 
have  a  talk  with  Mettius  to  see  whether  they  could 
not  agree  on  some  way  of  settling  the  quarrel  with- 


34  FAMOUS  MEN   OF  ROME 

out  a  fight  between  tlie  two  armies.  So  he  sent  for 
Mettius  and  they  talked  the  matter  over.  Mettius 
also  wished  very  much  to  avoid  a  battle,  and  he  said 
to  TuUus : 

"Would  it  not  be  well  to  fight  in  such  a  way 
that  only  a  few  of  our  soldiers  would  be  killed 
instead  of  many  ?  My  plan  is  this :  You  shall  select 
three  of  the  best  fighting  men  in  the  Koman  army, 
and  I  will  select  the  best  three  in  the  army  of  Alba. 
The  six  men  shall  fight  in  the  presence  of  the  two 
armies.  If  the  Romans  win  Alba  will  submit  to 
Rome ;  but  if  the  Latins  win  then  Rome  must  sub- 
mit to  Alba.     What  say  you  to  the  plan  ? " 

"  It  is  a  good  one,"  said  King  Tullus,  "  and  I 
agree  to  it.     May  the  best  men  win !  " 

With  these  words  they  separated,  and  went  to 
prepare  for  the  combat  on  which  was  to  depend  the 
fate  of  the  two  nations. 


n 

The  Romans  selected  as  their  champions  three 
brothers  belonging  to  a  family  known  as  the  Hora- 
tius  family.  The  brothers  were  called  the  Ho-ra'ti-i 
because  this  word  is  the  plural  form  of  Horatius. 
The  Horatii  brothers  were  tall,  handsome  men,  with 
wonderful  strength,  endurance,  and  courage. 


THE  HORATII  AND  THE  CURIATH 


35 


The  Albans  also  selected  three  brothers  as  their 
champions.  They  were  called  the  Cu-ri-a'ti-i.  They 
were  bold,  skillful  soldiers,  famous  for  manly  beauty 


THE  HOllATII   GOING   FORTH   TO  BATTLE 


Davta 


and  strength,  and  were  champions  well  worthy  to 
fight  for  a  nation. 

When  all  was  ready  the  Horatii  and  the  Curiatii 
advanced  to  the  centre  of  a  large  field  and  took 
their  places.  They  carried  short,  thick  swords  and 
large,  round  shields  made  of  stout  leather  and  metaL 
The  two  armies  gathered  around  the  six  champions, 


36  FAMOUS  MEN  OF   ROME 

but  at  a  distance,  so  as  to  leave  them  plenty  of 
room  to  fight. 

There  was  silence  for  a  few  moments,  and  then 
the  shrill  notes  of  a  trumpet  rang  out  as  a  signal 
for  the  battle.  Clash !  clang !  went  the  swords 
upon  the  shields,  and  the  fight  began. 

Quick,  skillful  blows  were  given  for  a  short  time, 
but  no  one  was  seriously  hurt.  Suddenly  the  Latins 
shouted  in  intense  excitement.  Lo !  one  of  the 
Horatii,  after  a  fierce  struggle  with  one  of  the 
Curiatii,  was  stricken  down  dead !  The  Romans 
groaned,  hung  their  heads,  and  looked  in  anxious 
doubt  at  their  remaining  two  champions. 

Bravely  the  Horatii  stood — two  to  three — and 
fought  w^ith  all  their  might.  Step  by  step  they 
drove  the  Curiatii  back  across  the  field.  Cheers 
rang  out  from  the  Romans  at  this  heroic  effort.  The 
victory  might  yet  be  theirs  ! 

But  alas !  one  of  the  Curiatii,  with  a  swift,  sly 
sword-thrust,  killed  another  of  the  Horatii.  Then 
the  Latins  shouted : 

"  We  have  won !  We  have  won !  We  have 
won  !     Hail  to  the  brave  Curiatii ! " 

The  Romans  were  wild  with  grief  and  rage. 
They  had  now  but  one  champion  left — Horatius, 
the  last  of  the  heroic  Horatii — and  he  was  running 
from  the  field,  as  if  he  had  given  up  the  fight.     He 


THE  HORATII  AND   THE   CURIATII  37 

was  followed  by  the  Curiatii,  though  they  were  all 
wounded.  One  of  them,  running  ahead  of  the 
others,  came  up  to  Horatius  and  was  raising  his 
sword  when  the  E-oman  turned  upon  him  quickly 
and  slew  him. 

The  cries  of  the  two  armies  were  now  hushed, 
as  if  by  magic.  All  eyes  were  upon  the  champions, 
and  there  was  a  painful  silence. 

Another  of  the  Curiatii  now  came  up  and  began 
to  fight  Horatius.  But  the  Roman  met  the  attack 
with  great  coolness  and  skill,  and  soon  killed  the 
second  Latin.  Thus,  under  the  pretence  of  running 
away,  Horatius  separated  the  Curiatii  and  slew  two 
of  them.  Then  he  advanced  in  a  furious  manner 
on  the  other  Latin  and  began  a  desperate  fight  with 
him.  Soon  he  struck  him  down  with  a  deadly  bloWo 
Rome  was  victorious  !  From  the  whole  Roman 
army  now  came  the  cry,  as  if  from  one  man : 
I  "Hail  to  the  brave  Horatius !  Hail  to  the  cham- 
pion and  savior  of  his  country  ! " 

Then  they  seized  Horatius  in  their  arms  and  bore 
him  in  triumph  to  King  Tullus,  who  placed  on  his 
head  the  laurel  wreath  of  victory.  This  was  one  of 
the  ways  by  which  the  Romans  honored  any  of  their 
soldiers  who  had  been  very  brave  in  battle.  But 
they  also  honored  Horatius  by  erecting  a  statue  of 
him  in  one  of  the  temples  of  the  city. 


38  FAMOUS   MEN   OF  ROME 


m 


With  songs  of  joy  the  army  marched  back  to 
Home.  Horatius  walked  by  the  side  of  the  king. 
A  throng  of  women  came  forth  from  the  gates  of 
the  city,  eager  to  greet  the  soldiers  and  to  rejoice 
with  them  over  the  great  victory.  The  sister  of 
Horatius  was  in  the  throng.  She  had  been  secretly 
engaged  to  be  married  to  one  of  the  Curiatii,  for 
the  Romans  and  Albans  were  near  neighbors  and 
frequently  visited  one  another  in  times  of  peace. 
When  she  learned  that  her  brother  had  slain  her 
lover  she  began  to  weep  bitterly.  Then  pointing 
at  Horatius  she  cried  out : 

"  You  have  killed  my  lover.  Do  not  come  near 
me.     I  hate  and  curse  you." 

Horatius,  in  a  fit  of  anger,  suddenly  drew  his 
sword  and  stabbed  her  to  the  heart.  As  she  fell 
dead  at  his  feet  he  cried  in  a  loud  voice : 

"So  perish  the  Roman  maiden  who  weeps  for 
her  country's  enemy!" 

For  this  shocking  murder  Horatius  was  tried  and 
sentenced  to  death.  But  the  people  would  not  allow 
the  sentence  to  be  carried  out.  He  was  made  to  do 
a  certain  penance  for  the  crime  and  afterwards  was 
set  free. 


THE    TARQUINS 


The  next  king  of  Rome  was  Ancus  Mar'ci-us. 
He  was  a  grandson  of  Numa  Ponipilius,  and  a 
very  good  king.  He  thought  that  it  would  be  an 
advantage  to  Rome  to  have  a  sea  harbor  for  ships. 
So  he  founded  a  city  at  one  of  the  mouths  of  the 
Tiber,  on  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean,  about  fif- 
teen miles  from  Rome.  The  city  was  called  Ostia, 
which  is  a  Latin  word  meaning  mouths,  Latin  was 
the  language  spoken  by  the  Roman  people. 

During  the  reign  of  Ancus  Marcius  a  rich  man 
named  Lu'cu-mo  came  to  live  in  Rome.  He  came 
from  Tar-quin'i-i,  a  town  some  miles  distant  from 
Rome,  in  a  district  or  country  called  E-tru'ri-a,  so 
the  Romans  called  him  Tar-quin'i-us,  which  in  Eng. 
lish  is  Tarquin. 

A  very  wonderful  thing  happened  to  Tarquin 
while  he  was  on  his  way  to  Rome.  He  drove  in  a 
chariot,  with  his  wife  Tan'a-quil  seated  beside  him, 
and  their  servants  following  behind.  As  they  were 
approaching  the  city  an  eagle  which  appeared  in 


40 


FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 


the  sky  above  them  came  gently  down  and  snatched 
the  cap  from  Tarquin's  head  with  its  beak.  After 
hovering  around  for  a  few  moments  the  eagle  re- 
placed the  cap  and  with  loud  screams  flew  away. 

Tarquin  was  much  surprised  at  this  strange  event. 
He  did  not  know  what  to  think  of  it.  But  Tana- 
quil  was  much  pleased.     She  said  to  her  husband 

that  it  was  a 
sign  sent  by  the 
gods  and  meant 
that  he  was  to 
be  a  great  man — 
perhaps  a  king. 

Tarquin  was 
not  long  in  Rome 
before  he  became 


IIOMAN  CHAKIOT 


a  favorite  with  everybody.  The  people  liked  him 
because  he  spent  a  great  deal  of  money  in  doing 
good.  The  king  also  liked  him  and  often  asked 
his  advice  in  affairs  of  government,  for  Tarquin 
was  a  man  of  great  knowledge  and  wisdom.  And 
when  King  Ancus  became  old  and  felt  that  his 
death  was  near,  he  appointed  Tarquin  the  guardian 
of  his  two  sons  who  were  then  but  boys. 

Soon  afterwards  Ancus  died,  and  the  people 
elected  Tarquin  king.  He  reigned  for  nearly  forty 
years  and  did  a  great  deal  for  the  good  of  the  city. 


THE  TARQUINS  41 


n 


It  was  King  Tarquin  who  began  the  building  of 
the  famous  temple  of  Jupiter  on  the  Saturnian 
Hill — the  same  hill  on  which  stood  the  fortress 
that  Eomulus  built.  While  the  workmen  were 
digging  for  *the  foundations  of  the  temple  they 
found  a  man's  head  so  well  preserved  that  it 
looked  as  if  it  had  been  buried  quite  recently.  This 
was  so  strange  a  thing  that  the  augurs  were  asked 
about  it,  and  they  said  it  was  a  sign  that  Rome 
would  become  the  head  or  chief  city  of  the  world. 
So  the  new  building  was  called  the  Capitol,  from 
caput,  the  Latin  word  for  head,  and  the  hill  was 
called  the  Cap'it-o-line  Hill.  This  has  given  our 
language  a  word.  We  call  the  building  in  which 
our  Congress  meets — as  well  as  that  in  which  a 
state  legislature  meets — the  Capitol. 

It  took  a  long  time  to  finish  the  Capitol,  but 
when  finished  it  was  a  great  and  beautiful  building. 
It  covered  more  than  eight  acres.  Its  gates  or  doors 
were  of  solid  brass,  thickly  plated  with  gold.  The 
walls  inside  were  all  marble,  ornamented  with  beau- 
tiful figures  engraved  in  silver. 

Tarquin  also  began  several  other  works  in  Home, 
which  were  too  great  and  costly  to  be  finished  in 


42 


FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 


a  lifetime.  One  of  tliem  was  a  wall  round  the 
city.  The  wall  that  Romulus  made  was  only  round 
Palatine  Hill.  But  since  then  the  city  had  been 
much  enlarged.  In  course  of  time  it  covered  seven 
hills.  This  is  why  Rome  is  often  called  the  seven- 
hilled  city.  The  seven 
"hills  were  the  Palatine, 
the  Capitoline,  the  Cse'- 
li-an,  the  Quirinal,  the 
Es'qui-line,  the  Vim'i-nal, 
and  the  A'ven-tine. 

One  of  the  other  things 
Tarquin  did  was  to  estab- 
lish a  kind  of  police  called 
lictors.  These  were  offi- 
cers who  always  walked 
before  the  king  when- 
ever he  appeared  in  pub- 
lic. Each  lictor  bore 
upon  his  shoulder  an  ax 
enclosed  in  a  bundle  of 
rods  tied  with  a  red  strap.  This  was  called  the 
fas'ces.  It  was  a  mark  of  the  power  of  the  king. 
The  ax  meant  that  the  king  might  order  criminals 
to  be  beheaded,  and  the  rods  meant  that  he  might 
punish  offenders  by  flogging. 

Another  work  of  Tarquin  was  the  Circus,  after- 


LICTORS 


THE   TARQUINS  43 

wards  called  tlie  Circus  Max'i-mus  (great  circus). 
This  was  a  place  where  horse-races  and  games  and 
shows  of  various  kinds  were  held.  The  Romans 
were  very  fond  of  such  amusements.  Great  num- 
bers of  them  always  went  to  the  shows,  but  it  was 
easy  for  them  to  go,  for  they  did  not  have  to  pay 
for  admission.  The  cost  of  the  shows  was  paid 
often  by  rich  Romans  who  wanted  to  gain  the  favor 
of  the  people,  and  often  by  the  government. 

The  circus  had  no  roof,  but  there  were  a  great 
many  seats  all  round  and  in  the  middle  was  a  large 
open  space  for  the  performers.  This  space  was 
covered  with  sand,  and  was  called  the  arena,  a 
word  which  is  Latin  for  sand. 

As  so  many  people  attended  the  circus  it  had  to 
be  very  large.  In  the  time  when  Rome  was  an  em- 
pire, about  which  you  will  read  later  on  in  this 
book,  the  Circus  Maximus  was  so  large  that  it  con- 
tained seats  for  250,000  people.  From  the  circus 
and  arena  of  the  Romans  these  words  have  come 
into  use  in  our  own  language. 

Ill 

Besides  building  a  circus.  King  Tarquin  also 
greatly  improved  the  Forum  by  making  covered 
walks  or  porticoes  all  round  it.     The  Forum  was  a 


44 


PAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 


large  open  space  at  the  foot  of  the  Capltoline  Hill, 
where  public  meetings  were  held,  and  where  people 
came  to  hear  the  news  or  talk  about  politics.  It 
was  also  used  as  a  market-place,  and  merchants 
showed  their  goods  in  shops  or  stores  along  the 
porticoes.  In  course  of  time  great  buildings  were 
erected  round  the  Forum.    There  were  courts  of  jus- 


From  a  photoyraph 


TARqUIN'S   SEWER  AS  IT  LOOKS  TO-DAY 

tice  and  temples  and  statues  and  monuments  of 
various  kinds.  The  Senate  House,  where  the  Senate 
held  its  meetings,  was  also  in  the  Forum.  From  the 
end  of  the  Forum  next  the  Capitoline  Hill  there  was 
a  passage  leading  up  to  the  Capitol. 

But  the  most  useful  thing  King  Tarquin  did  was 
the  building  of  a  great  sewer  through  the  city  and 
into  the  Tiber.  Before  his  time  there  were  no 
sewers  in  Rome,  though  the  places  between  the  hills 


THE   TARQUINS  45 

were  swampy  and  wet.  This  made  many  parts  of 
tlie  city  very  unhealthy.  Tarquin's  sewer  drained 
the  swamps  and  carried  the  water  into  the  river.  It 
crossed  the  entire  city.  It  was  so  high  and  wide 
that  men  could  sail  into  it  in  boats,  and  it  was  so 
strongly  built  that  it  has  lasted  to  the  present  time. 
The  great  sewer  is  still  in  use.  / 

Tarquin  wanted  very  much  to  change  one  of  the 
laws  about  the  army,  but  an  augur  named  At'ti-us 
Na'vi-us  told  him  such  a  thing  could  not  be  done 
without  a  sign  from  the  gods.  This  made  the  king 
angry,  and  he  thought  he  would  try  to  show  that 
the  augurs  had  not  the  power  or  knowledge  they 
were  supposed  to  have,  so  he  said  to  Attius ; 

"  Come,  now,  I  will  give  you  a  question.  I  am 
thinking  whether  a  certain  thing  I  have  in  my  mind 
can  be  done  or  not.  Go  and  find  out  from  your 
signs  if  it  can  be  done." 

Navius  went  away,  and  shortly  afterwards  re- 
turned and  told  the  king  that  the  thing  could  be 
done.     Then  Tarquin  said : 

"  Well,  I  was  thinking  whether  or  not  you  could 
cut  this  stone  in  two  with  this  razor.  As  you  say 
it  can  be  done,  do  it." 

Navius  took  the  razor  and  immediately  cut  the 
stone  in  two  with  the  greatest  ease.  The  king 
never  again  doubted  the  power  of  the  augurs. 


46  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 


IV 


On  the  death  of  Tarquin  his  son-in-law  Ser'vi-us 
Tul'li-us  was  made  king.  Tarquin  had  two  young 
sons,  and  the  sons  of  Ancus  Marcius  were  also  liv- 
ing; but  the  people  preferred  to  have  Servius 
Tullius  for  their  king. 

Servius  was  a  very  good  king.  He  had  many 
good  laws  made  and,  like  King  Numa  Pompilius,  he 
divided  some  of  the  public  lands  among  the  poor 
people  of  the  city. 

One  of  the  important  things  Servius  did  was 
to  finish  the  wall  round  the  city  which  Tarquin 
had  begun.  This  wall  was  very  high.  It  was 
made  of  stone  and  earth,  and  on  the  outside  there 
was  a  ditch  a  hundred  feet  wide  and  thirty  feet 
deep.  There  were  several  gates  in  the  wall,  but 
they  were  all  well  guarded  night  and  day  by  sol- 
diers, so  that  no  enemy  could  enter. 

King  Servius  was  the  first  to  have  a  census  taken 
in  Rome.  He  made  a  rule  or  law  that  once  every 
five  years  all  the  people  should  assemble  in  the 
Campus  Martins  to  be  counted.  The  word  census 
is  a  Latin  word,  meaning  a  counting  or  reckoning, 
and  so  we  use  it  in  our  own  country  for  the  count- 
ing of  the  people  which  takes  place  every  ten  years. 


THE  TARQUINS  47 

Servius  TuUius  was  killed  by  King  Tarquin's 
son,  who  was  also  called  Tarquin  but  got  the 
name  of  Superbus,  or  Proud,  because  he  was  a  very- 
haughty  and  cruel  man.  The  dead  body  of  Servius 
was  left  lying  on  the  street  where  he  had  been 
killed,  and  Tiillia,  wife  of  the  wicked  Tarquin  and 
daughter  of  the  murdered  king,  drove  her  chariot 
over  it. 

Tarquin  the  Proud  now  became  king.  It  was 
during  his  reign  that  the  Sib'yl-line  Books  were 
brought  to  Kome.  These  books  were  not  like  our 
books.  They  were  merely  three  bundles  of  loose 
pieces  of  parchment,  having  moral  sentences  on 
them  written  in  the  Greek  language.  This  is  the 
story  of  how  the  books  were  obtained : 

One  morning  an  old  woman  came  to  King 
Tarquin,  carrying  nine  books  in  her  hands.  She 
offered  to  sell  them  to  the  king,  but  when  she 
named  a  large  sum  as  the  price  he  laughed  at  her 
and  ordered  her  away.  The  next  day  the  woman 
came  again,  but  with  only  six  books  She  had 
burned  the  other  three.  She  offered  to  sell  the  six, 
but  she  asked  the  same  price  that  she  had  asked 
the  day  before  for  the  whole  nine.  The  king  again 
laughed  at  her  and  drove  her  away. 

The  same  day  Tarquin  went  to  visit  the  augurs 
in  their  temple,  and  he  told  them  about  the  old 


TULLIA  DRIVING  OVEll  HEli  FATHEU'S  BODY 


THE  TARaums  49 

woman  and  her  books.  The  augurs  declared  that 
she  was  certainly  a  sibyl  and  that  her  books  doubt- 
less contained  important  predictions  about  Rome. 

The  sibyls  were  women  who  pretended  to  be  able 
to  foretell  events.  There  were  sibyls  in  many  coun- 
tries, but  the  most  famous  of  them  all  was  the  Sibyl 
of  Cu'mse,  a  town  in  the  south  of  Italy.  This  was 
the  sibyl  who  brought  the  books  to  Tarquin. 

Tarquin  was  now  sorry  he  had  not  taken  the 
books,  and  he  hoped  the  woman  would  come  again. 
She  did  come  on  the  following  day,  but  she  had 
only  three  books  instead  of  six.  She  had  burned 
the  other  three  the  day  before.  The  king  was  very 
glad  to  see  her,  and  he  bought  the  remaining  three 
books,  but  he  had  to  pay  just  as  much  for  them  as 
the  old  woman  had  asked  at  first  for  the  nine.  Then 
the  Sibyl  disappeared,  and  was  never  seen  again. 

The  ordinary  books  the  Romans  had  were  not 
like  the  Sibylline  Books.  They  had  no  printed 
books,  for  printing  was  not  known  for  many  cen- 
turies after.  Their  books  were  written  with  pens 
made  of  reeds.  Their  paper  was  made  of  the  pith 
of  a  plant  called  the  papyrus,  and  from  this  name 
the  word  paper  is  derived.  To  make  a  book  they 
cut  the  paper  into  leaves  or  pages,  and  after  writ- 
ing on  them  they  pasted  the  pages  one  to  another 
sidewise  until  all  the  pages  of  one  book  were  put 


50 


FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 


together.  This  long  strip  was  made  into  a  cylindri- 
cal roll,  and  was  called  a  volume^  from  the  Latin 
word  volumen^  a  roll.  When  the  volume  was  being 
read  it  was  held  in  both  hands,  the  reader  unrolling 
it  with  one  hand  and  rolling  it  with  the  other. 

The  Sibylline  Books  were  put  in  the  temple  of 
Jupiter  on  the  Capitoline  Hill.  Two  officers  were 
appointed  to  keep 
watch  over  them. 
Whenever  the  Ro- 
mans were  going  to 
war,  or  had  any  seri- 
ous trouble,  they 
would  consult  the 
books.  The  way 
they  did  it  was  this:  one  of  the  officers  would  open 
the  stone  chest  where  the  books  were  kept  and  take 
out  the  first  piece  of  parchment  he  laid  his  hand 
on.  Then  the  Greek  sentence  found  on  the  piece 
would  be  translated  into  Latin.  It  was  some- 
times very  hard  to  tell  what  the  sentence  really 
meant.  Often  they  had  to  guess.  When  they 
made  sense  out  of  it  they  said  that  it  was  a  proph- 
ecy of  the  Sibyl  and  would  surely  come  to  pass. 


ANCIENT  ROMAN  BOOKS 


JUNIUS    BRUTUS 


Taequin  the  Proud  had  a  nephew  named  Junius 
Brutus.  He  seemed  to  be  a  simpleton,  but  he  was 
really  a  very  wise  man.  His  brother  had  been  mur- 
dered by  the  king,  and  he  feared  the  same  fate  him- 
self^ so  he  pretended  to  be  half-witted  and  went 
about  saying  and  doing  silly  things.  Tarquin 
therefore  did  him  no  harm,  but  rather  pitied  him. 

Two  sons  of  Tarquin  once  went  to  a  noted  for- 
tune-teller, taking  Brutus  with  them.  The  young 
men  asked  several  questions.     One  was  : 

"  Who  shall  rule  Rome  after  Tarquin  ? " 

The  fortune-teller  gave  this  answer : 

"Young  men,  whichever  of  you  shall  first  kiss 
your  mother  shall  be  the  next  ruler  of  Rome." 

The  king's  sons  at  once  started  for  home,  each 
eager  to  be  the  first  to  kiss  his  mother.  But  Brutus 
thought  that  something  else  was  really  meant  by 
the  answer.  So  after  they  had  left  the  fortune- 
teller he  managed  to  stumble  and  fall  on  his  face. 


62  FAMOUS  MEN   OF   ROME 

Then  lie  kissed  the  ground,  saying,  "The  earth  is 
the  true  mother  of  us  all."  And  as  we  shall  see, 
Brutus  became  the  next  ruler  of  Rome. 

II 

The  eldest  son  of  Tarquin  was  named  Sextus.  He 
was  a  very  bad  man.  He  deeply  injured  a  beautiful 
woman  named  Lu-cre'ti-a,  the  wife  of  Col-la-ti'nus, 
his  cousin.  Lucretia  told  her  husband  and  father 
and  Junius  Brutus  of  what  Sextus  had  done  and 
called  upon  them  to  punish  him  for  his  wicked 
deed.  Then  she  plunged  a  dagger  into  her  breast 
and  fell  dead.  Brutus  drew  the  dagger  from  her 
bleeding  body  and,  holding  it  up  before  his  horrified 
companions,  exclaimed: 

^^  I  vow  before  the  gods  to  avenge  the  wronged 
Lucretia.  Not  one  of  the  Tarquins  shall  ever  again 
be  king  in  Rome.    Rome  shall  have  no  more  kings." 

They  all  vowed  with  Brutus  that  Lucretia  should 
be  avenged  and  that  there  should  loe  no  more  kings 
in  Rome.  Then  they  took  up  her  body  and  carried 
it  to  the  Forum.  There  they  showed  it  to  the  people, 
who  gathered  around  in  horror  at  the  sight.  Brutus 
no  longer  appeared  dull  and  simple,  but  stood  with 
head  erect  and  flashing  eyes  and  spoke  to  the  crowd 
in  eloquent,  stirring  words. 

"  See  what  has  come  from  the  evil  deeds  of  the 


Pinta 
BBUTUS  AND  HIS  COMPANIONS  VOWING  TO  AVENGE  THE  DEATH  OF 

LUCRETIA 


64  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

Tarquins  !  "  lie  shouted,  pointing  to  the  dead  woman. 
"  Let  us  free  ourselves  from  the  rule  of  these  wicked 
men.  Down  with  Tarquin  the  tyrant !  No  more 
kings  in  Eome  ! " 

The  people  were  much  excited  by  his  speech,  and 
they  made  the  Forum  ring  with  their  cries : 

"  Down  with  Tarquin  !  Down  with  Tarquin  ! 
No  more  kings  !     No  more  kings  ! " 

Then  they  resolved  to  take  the  power  of  king 
away  from  Tarquin  and  to  banish  him  and  his  family 
from  E-ome.  They  also  decided  to  adopt  the  good 
laws  which  had  been  made  years  before  by  King 
Servius  TuUius,  and  to  choose  two  men  each  year 
to  govern  the  nation,  instead  of  a  king.  The  men 
were  to  be  called  consuls  and  were  to  rule  in  turn 
— one  for  one  month,  the  other  for  the  next,  and  so 
on  for  twelve  months.  At  the  end  of  the  year  two 
new  consuls  were  to  be  elected. 

Meanwhile  news  of  the  revolt  reached  King  Tar- 
quin, who  was  at  the  time  in  camp  with  his  army 
some  distance  from  E-ome.  He  instantly  mounted 
his  horse  and  rode  in  haste  to  the  city.  When  he 
reached  the  gates  he  found  them  shut  against  him. 
As  he  stood  impatiently  demanding  to  be  admitted, 
a  Eoman  officer  appeared  on  the  wall  and  told 
him  of  the  sentence  of  banishment.  Tarquin  rode 
away,  and  Eome  was  rid  of  him  forever  (510  b.c). 


JUNIUS  BRUTUS  55 

in 

The  people  elected  Junius  Brutus  and  Lucius  Col- 
latinus,  the  husband  of  Lucretia,  to  be  their  first 
consuls ;  but  after  a  short  time  Collatinus  resigned, 
because  he  was  himself  a  Tarquin.  Pub'li-us  Va- 
le'ri-us  was  elected  in  his  stead. 

Tarquin  now  sent  messengers  for  his  household 
goods  and  other  things  belonging  to  him  which 
were  in  Rome.  The  messengers  while  in  the  city- 
had  secret  meetings  with  a  number  of  young  men 
of  noble  families,  and  a  plot  was  formed  to  restore 
Tarquin  to  the  throne. 

The  young  nobles  vowed  that  they  would  destroy 
the  new  republic  and  bring  back  the  king,  for  they 
did  not  like  government  by  the  common  people. 
But  while  they  were  making  their  plans  an  intel- 
ligent slave  overheard  what  they  were  saying.  This 
slave  went  to  Brutus  and  told  him  of  the  plot.  All 
engaged  in  it  were  at  once  arrested  and  put  in 
prison.  Two  sons  of  Brutus  himself,  Titus  and 
Ti-be'ri-us,  were  found  among  the  plotters. 

When  Brutus  learned  that  his  own  children  were 
traitors  he  was  overcome  with  sorrow.  For  several 
days  he  shut  himself  up  in  his  house  and  would 
see  no  one.  But  when  the  day  for  the  trial  came 
he  did  his  duty  sternly  as  judge — the  consuls  being 


56 


FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 


judges  as  well  as  rulers.  Titus  and  Tiberius  were 
proved  guilty  of  treason,  together  with  the  others, 
and  Brutus  sentenced  them  to  be  whipped  with  rods 
and  then  beheaded.     He  even  was  a  witness  of  the 


BRUi 


ONS  TO  DEATH 


execution  of  the  sentence,  and  we  are  told  that  he 
sat  unmoved  in  his  chair  and  did  not  turn  away  his 
eyes  while  his  two  sons  were  put  to  death.  It  was 
his  duty  to  punish  traitors,  and  he  did  his  duty 
without  sparing  his  own  flesh  and  blood. 


JUNIUS  BRUTUS  57 

After  tlie  loss  of  his  sons  Brutus  became  dull 
and  melancholy  and  appeared  to  care  very  little  for 
life.  Tarquin  made  an  attempt  to  take  Rome,  with 
the  aid  of  the  people  of  two  cities  of  Etruria,  and 
Brutus  led  the  Romans  to  the  field  to  fight  against 
their  former  king.  During  the  first  part  of  the 
battle,  a  son  of  Tarquin  rode  furiously  at  Brutus  to 
kill  him.  Brutus  saw  him  and  advanced  rapidly 
on  his  horse  to  meet  the  attack.  When  they  came 
together  each  ran  his  spear  through  the  body  of 
the  other,  and  both  were  killed. 

The  death  of  Brutus  maddened  the  Romans,  and 
they  fought  fiercely  until  dark.  Then  the  armies 
went  to  their  camps,  and  no  one  knew  which  side 
had  won.  But  in  the  middle  of  the  night  a  loud 
voice  came  from  a  wood  close  by  the  camp  of  the 
Etruscans,  as  the  people  of  Etruria  were  called. 
The  voice  said; 

"One  man  more  has  fallen  on  the  side  of  the 
Etruscans  than  on  the  side  of  the  Romans;  the 
Romans  will  conquer  in  this  war." 

The  Etruscans  believed  that  this  was  the  voice 
of  the  god  Jupiter,  and  they  were  so  frightened 
that  they  broke  up  their  camp  and  quickly  marched 
back  to  their  own  land. 


HORATIUS 

Foe  a  time  Rome  was  ruled  by  Publius  Valerius. 
He  was  a  good  man.  He  caused  laws  to  be  passed 
for  the  benefit  of  the  people  and  was  therefore 
called  Pub-lic'o-la,  which  means  the  people's  friend. 
He  had  to  fight  Tarquin  frequently.  The  banished 
king  was  constantly  trying  to  capture  Rome  and 
get  back  his  throne.  He  got  help  from  various 
nations  and  fought  very  hard,  but  was  never  suc- 
cessful in  his  efforts.  At  one  time  he  was  aided 
by  Lars  Por'se-na,  king  of  Clu'si-um,  a  city  of 
Etruria,  who  gathered  a  large  army  and  set  out 
to  attack  Rome. 

But  Porsena  could  not  enter  the  city  without 
crossing  the  Tiber,  and  there  was  only  one  bridge. 
This  was  called  the  Sublician  Bridge.  It  was  so 
called  from  the  Latin  word  suhlicce,  which  means 
wooden  beams.  When  the  Romans  saw  the  great 
army  of  Etruscans  in  the  distance,  they  were  much 
alarmed.  They  were  not  prepared  to  fight  so  power- 
ful a  force.  The  consul  thought  for  a  while,  and 
then  he  resolved  to  cut  down  the  bridge  as  the  only 


HORATIUS  59 

means  of  saving  Rome.  So  a  number  of  men  were 
at  once  set  to  work  with  axes  and  hammers. 

It  was  hard  work,  for  the  bridge  was  very  strongly- 
built.  Before  the  beams  supporting  it  were  all 
cut  away  the  army  of  Porsena  was  seen  approach- 
ing the  river.  What  was  to  be  done  ?  It  would 
take  a  few  minutes  more  to  finish  the  work,  and  if 
the  farther  end  of  the  bridge  could  be  held  against 
the  Etruscans  for  those  few  minutes  all  would  be 
well  for  Rome.  But  how  was  it  to  be  held,  and 
who  would  hold  it  ?  Suddenly  from  the  ranks  of 
the  Roman  soldiers  the  brave  Ho-ra'ti-us  Co'cles 
stepped  out  and  cried  to  the  consul : 

"  Give  me  two  good  men  to  help  me,  and  I  will 
hold  the  bridge  and  stop  the  enemy  from  coming 
over." 

Immediately  two  brave  men,  Spu'ri-us  Lar'ti-us 
and  Titus  Her-min'i-us,  ran  to  his  side.  Then  the 
three  hurried  over  to  the  other  end  of  the  bridge, 
and  stood  ready  to  keep  off  the  enemy. 

When  the  army  of  Etruscans  saw  the  three  men 
standing  to  keep  them  back  a  shout  of  laughter 
went  up  among  them.  Three  men  to  keep  back 
thousands !  How  ridiculous !  There  the  three 
brave  Romans  stood,  however,  at  the  entrance  of 
the  bridge,  with  determined  faces  and  fearless  eyes. 

Very  quickly  three  Etruscans — stout,  able  fight- 


60  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

ers — came  fortli  from  the  army  to  give  battle  to  tlie 
three  E-omans.  After  a  sharp  combat  the  Etruscans 
were  killed.  Three  more  came  out  and  continued 
the  fight,  but  they  too  were  beaten  by  Horatius 
and  his  companions. 

But  now  the  bridge  began  to  shake  and  crack. 
Horatius  felt  that  it  was  about  to  fall,  and  he 
cried  to  Spurius  and  Titus  to  run  back  to  the  other 
side.  While  they  did  so  he  stood  alone  and  defied 
the  whole  Etruscan  army,  which  was  now  rushing 
upon  him.  A  whole  army  against  one  man ! 
Javelins  were  hurled  at  him,  but  he  skillfully 
warded  them  off  with  his  shield. 

Just  as  the  Etruscans  reached  him  the  last 
beam  was  cut  away,  and  the  bridge  fell  with  a 
tremendous  crash.  As  it  was  falling  Horatius 
plunged  into  the  Tiber,  and  praying  to  the  gods  for 
help,  he  swam  to  the  other  side  in  safety.  The 
Romans  received  him  with  shouts  of  joy,  and  even 
the  Etruscans  could  not  help  raising  a  cheer  in  ad- 
miration of  his  bravery. 

The  three  Romans  were  well  rewarded.  A  fine 
statue  of  Horatius  was  built  in  one  of  the  squares 
of  the  city.  On  the  base  of  the  statue  was  placed  a 
brass  tablet,  with  an  account  of  the  heroic  deed 
engraved  on  it.  The  Senate  also  gave  Horatius  as 
much  land  as  he  could  plow  around  in  a  day. 


MUCIUS   THE   LEFT-HANDED 

But  Porsena  still  remained  with  his  army  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river.  He  thought  that  by  pre- 
venting food  from  being  sent  into  the  city  he  could 
force  the  inhabitants  to  surrender.  So  he  got  ships 
and  stationed  them  on  the  Tiber  to  drive  away  or 
seize  any  vessels  that  should  attempt  to  come  to 
Rome  with  food. 

Now  there  was  in  Rome  at  this  time  a  very  brave 
young  man  named  Ca'i-us  Mu'ci-us,  and  he  thought 
of  a  plan  to  save  the  city.  His  plan  was  to  march 
boldly  into  the  enemy's  camp  and  kill  King  Por- 
sena. So  he  concealed  a  sword  under  his  tunic 
and  went  across  the  river  to  the  Etruscan  camp. 
Then  he  made  his  way  to  the  place  where  the  king 
was  sitting. 

It  happened  that  it  was  pay  day  in  the  army  and 
the  soldiers  were  getting  their  money.  A  secretary, 
who  sat  beside  the  king  and  was  dressed  very  much 
like  him,  was  talking  to  the  men  and  giving  them 
orders.  Mucins  mistook  the  secretary  for  Porsena 
and   rushed   forward   and   stabbed   him   to   death. 


62  FAMOUS  MEN   OF  ROME 

Instantly  the  daring  Roman  was  seized  by  the 
guards.  He  heard  the  soldiers  crying  out  that  the 
secretary  was  killed.  Then  he  knew  what  a  mistake 
he  had  made. 

Porsena  was  greatly  enraged  at  seeing  his  secre- 
tary killed,  and  in  a  loud  and  angry  voice  he  com- 
manded Mucins  to  tell  who  he  Avas  and  why  he  had 
committed  such  a  deed.  Without  showing  any  sign 
of  fear  the  bold  Mucins  answered : 

"  I  am  a  Roman  citizen.  I  came  here  to  kill  you, 
because  you  are  an  enemy  of  my  country.  I  have 
failed,  but  there  are  others  to  come  after  me  who 
will  not  fail.  Your  life  will  be  constantly  in  danger, 
and  you  will  be  killed  when  you  least  expect  it." 

On  hearing  these  words  Porsena  jumped  from 
his  seat  in  a  great  fury  and  threatened  to  burn 
Mucins  to  death  if  he  did  not  at  once  tell  all  about 
the  others  who  were  coming  to  kill  him.  But 
Mucins  was  not  frightened,  and  to  show  how  little 
he  cared  about  the  king's  threat  he  thrust  his  right 
hand  into  the  flame  of  a  fire  which  had  been  lighted 
close  by  and  held  it  there  without  flinching.  At 
the  same  time  he  cried  out  to  the  king  i 

"Behold  how  little  we  Romans  care  for  pain 
when  it  is  to  defend  our  country." 

Porsena  was  astonished  at  this  sight,  and  he  so 
much  admired  the  courage  and  patriotism  of  the 


MUCIUS  THE  LEFT-HANDED 


63 


Eoman  that  he  ordered  the  guards  to  set  him  free. 
Then  Mucius  said  to  the  king : 

"  In  return  for  your  kindness  I  now  tell  you  of 
my  own  free  will  what  I  would  not  tell  you  when 
you  threatened  me  with  punishment.  Know  then 
that  three  hundred  Roman  youths 
have  bound  themselves  by  oath 
to  kill  yoUj  each  to  make  the  at- 
tempt in  his  turn.  The  lot  fell 
first  on  me.  I  have  failed,  but 
the  attempt  will  be  made  again 
and  again  until  some  one  suc- 
ceeds." 

King  Porsena  was  so  terri- 
fied on  hearing  this  that  he  re- 
solved to  make  peace  at  once 
with  Rome.  So  he  immediately 
sent  messengers  to  the  Senate, 
and  terms  of  peace  were  quickly  agreed  upon. 

The  Senate  rewarded  Mucius  by  giving  him  a 
tract  of  land  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber.  This  land 
was  afterwards  called  the  Mucian  Meadows.  Mucius 
himself  got  the  name  of  S^sev'o-la,  a  Latin  word 
which  means  left-handed.  He  had  lost  the  use  of 
his  right  hand  by  burning  it  in  the  fire. 


MUCIUS    THRUSTS    HIS 
HAND  INTO  THE  FIRE 


CORIOLANUS 


One  of  the  great  men  of  Rome  not  long  after  tlie 
banishment  of  the  Tarquins  was  Caius  Marcius.  He 
was  a  member  of  a  noble  family,  and  from  his  youth 
he  had  been  noted  for  his  bravery. 

In  his  time  there  was  a  war  between  the  Romans 
and  the  Vol'sci-ans,  a  people  of  a  district  in  Latin m. 
The  Romans  made  an  attack  on  Co-ri'o-li,  the  capital 
city  of  the  Volscians,  but  were  defeated  and  driven 
back.  Caius  Marcius  reproached  the  Roman  sol- 
diers for  running  from  the  enemy.  His  words 
made  them  ashamed  and  they  turned  again  to  the 
fight.  With  Caius  at  their  head  they  sent  the  Vol- 
scians flying  back  into  the  city.  Caius  followed  the 
enemy  to  the  gates,  which  were  partly  open.  When 
he  saw  this  he  shouted  to  the  Romans : 

"  The  gates  are  open  for  us ;  let  us  not  be  afraid 
to  enter ! " 

Caius  himself  sprang  in  and  kept  the  gates 
open  for  the  Romans.  After  a  short  fight  the  city 
was  taken. 


CORIOLANUS  Q6 

Then  everybody  said  that  it  was  Caius  who  had 
taken  Corioli,  and  that  he  should  be  called  after  the 
name  of  the  city  he  had  won.  So  ever  afterwards 
he  was  known  as  Co'ri-o-la'nus. 


But  though  Coriolanus  was  a  brave  soldier  and 
always  ready  to  fight  for  Rome,  he  had  some  quali- 
ties that  were  not  so  good.  He  had  great  contempt 
for  the  common  people,  and  he  took  part  with  those 
who  tried  to  oppress  them. 

Only  a  little  while  before  the  taking  of  Corioli, 
there  was  a  serious  trouble  between  the  people  and 
the  patricians.  A  great  many  of  the  people  earned 
their  living  by  farming.  But  when  there  was  a  war 
the  strong  men  had  to  become  soldiers,  and  as  Rome 
was  almost  constantly  at  war  the  men  were  nearly 
always  away  from  their  farms.  Very  often,  there- 
fore, they  had  to  borrow  money  to  suppoii;  their 
families  while  they  themselves  were  away  fighting, 
for  at  this  time  Roman  soldiers  got  no  regular  pay. 

Now  it  was  the  rich  patricians  who  loaned  the 
money,  and  if  it  was  not  paid  back  at  the  time 
agreed  upon  they  could  put  the  people  who  owed 
it  in  jail,  or  they  could  sell  their  wives  and  children 
as  slaves. 


66  FAMOUS   MEN   OF   ROME 

lu  tliis  way  tlie  plebeians  often  suffered  much 
hardship.  At  last  a  great  number  of  them  resolved 
to  leave  Rome  and  make  a  settlement  for  them- 
selves somewhere  else  in  Italy.  The  patricians  did 
not  like  this  very  much,  foT  if  the  common  people 
went  away  there  would  be  a  scarcity  of  soldiei's 
for  the  army.  So  the  Senate,  after  thinking  the 
matter  over,  proposed  that  the  plebeians  should 
elect  officers  of  their  own,  to  be  called  trib'une's, 
who  should  have  power  to  veto  laws  they  did  not 
like,  that  is,  prevent  them  from  being  passed.  The 
word  "veto^  which  is  Latin  for  I  forbid^  is  used  in 
the  same  way  in  our  own  country.  The  President 
of  the  United  States  and  the  governors  of  some 
states  have,  within  certain  limits,  power  to  prevent 
the  passing  of  laws  they  do  not  approve.  This  is 
called  the  veto  power. 

^  The  plebeians  were  pleased  with  the  proposal  that 
they  were  to  have  tribunes,  so  they  returned  to 
Rome,  and  for  a  time  thei'e  was  peace  between 
them  and  the  patricians. 

But  Coriolanus  and  other  patricians  were  opposed 
to  the  election  of  tribunes,  because  they  thought  it 
gave  the  common  people  too  much  power.  Once 
when  there  was  a  famine  in  Rome,  and  the  poor 
were  suffering  greatly  from  want  of  food,  the  Greeks 
living  in  Sicily  sent  several  ships  laden  with  corn  to 


CORIOLANUS  67 

Rome  to  relieve  the  people  in  distress.  When  the 
corn  arrived  the  Senate  was  about  to  order  that  it 
should  be  divided  among  the  people  who  needed  it, 
but  Coriolanus  interfered. 

"  No,  no,"  he  said,  "  if  the  people  want  corn  let 
them  first  give  up  their  tribunes.  It  must  be 
either  no  corn  or  no  tribunes." 

The  people  were  so  angry  when  they  heard  of 
this  speech  that  they  talked  about  killing  Corio- 
lanus. And  they  would  have  done  so  but  for  the 
wise  advice  of  the  tribunes. 

^*No,  no,"  said  the  tribunes^  *^  you  must  not  kill 
him;  that  would  be  against  the  law.  But  you 
can  have  him  tried  for  treason  against  the  people 
and  we  will  be  his  accusers." 

Coriolanus  was  then  ordered  to  appear  before  the 
assembly  of  the  people  to  be  tried,  for  the  people 
had  power  to  try  in  their  assemblies  persons  charged 
with  such  offences.  But  Coriolanus  was  afraid  the 
assembly  would  condemn  him,  so  he  secretly  fled 
from  the  city,  leaving  his  family  behind,  and  went 
to  a  town  of  the  Volscians. 

The  chief  of  the  Volscians  received  Coriolanus  in 
a  friendly  manner.  Coriolanus  then  told  him  why 
he  had  left  Rome.  The  Volscian  chief  was  glad  to 
hear  it.  He  had  long  wanted  to  fight  the  Romans, 
but  had  been  afraid  to  make  the  attempt.     With 


68  FAMOUS   MEN   OF   ROME 

the  aid  of  sucli  a  soldier  as  Coriolaniis,  however,  he 
was  sure  that  Rome  might  be  taken.  So  he  raised 
a  large  army  and  put  it  under  the  command  of  the 
great  E-oman. 


in 


The  Volscian  army,  led  by  Coriolanus,  captured 
many  cities  belonging  to  the  Roman  Republic.  At 
last  Coriolanus  resolved  to  attack  Rome  itself,  and 
he  marched  his  army  towards  the  city.  The  Ro- 
mans just  then  were  not  very  well  prepared  for  a 
battle,  so  the  Senate  decided  to  send  messengers  to 
Coriolanus  to  beg  him  to  spare  his  native  city  and 
make  terms  of  peace. 

The  messengers  chosen  were  five  of  the  leading 
nobles,  and  they  at  once  set  out  for  the  Volscian 
camp.  Coriolanus  received  them  cordially,  for  they 
were  old  friends;  but  he  said  that  he  would  not 
spare  Rome  unless  the  Romans  would  give  up  all 
the  lands  and  cities  which  they  had  taken  from  the 
Volscians  in  former  wars. 

To  this  the  Senate  would  not  agree,  and  Corio- 
lanus refused  to  listen  to  any  other  terms.  The 
Romans  then  began  to  prepare  for  battle,  though 
they  feared  very  much  that  they  would  be  defeated. 

But  while  the  men  were  thus  in  fear  and  doubt, 


CORIOLANUS  69 

the  women  of  Eome  saved  the  city !  Va-le'ri-a,  a 
noble  Koman  lady,  remembered  that  Coriolanus  had 
always  dearly  loved  his  mother. 

"Perhaps,"  thought  she,  "he  may  listen  to  her 
though  he  will  hear  no  one  else." 

So  ^^  aleria,  with  a  large  number  of  noble  ladies, 
went  to  the  house  of  Ve-tu'ri-a,  the  mother  of  Corio- 
lanus, and  said  to  her : 

"  The  gods  have  put  it  into  our  hearts  to  come  and 
ask  you  to  join  with  us  to  save  our  country  from 
ruin.  Come  then  with  us  to  the  camp  of  your  son 
and  pray  him  to  show  mercy." 

The  aged  mother  at  once  agreed  to  go,  so  she  got 
ready  immediately  and  set  out  for  the  camp  of  the 
Volscians,  accompanied  by  a  great  number  of  ladies 
and  her  son's  wife  and  little  children.  It  was  a 
strange  sight,  this  long  line  of  Roman  ladies,  all 
dressed  in  mourning,  and  even  the  Volscian  soldiers 
showed  them  respect  as  they  passed  along. 

Coriolanus  happened  to  be  sitting  in  front  of  his 
tent  in  the  Volscian  camp  with  a  number  of  officers 
around  him  as  the  procession  came  in  view.  "  Who 
are  these  women?"  he  asked.  Before  an  answer 
could  be  given  he  saw  that  among  them  were  his 
mother  and  wife  and  children,  and  he  stood  up  and 
hastened  forward  to  meet  them.  They  fell  on  their 
knees  and  begged  him  to  spare  his  native  city. 


PLEADING  WITH  CORIOLANUS 


CORIOLANUS  71 

Coriolanus  seemed  deeply  distressed.  He  made 
no  answer,  but  bent  his  head,  pressed  his  hand  to 
his  breast  and  gazed  down  upon  the  dear  ones  who 
knelt  at  his  feet.     Then  his  mother  said : 

"If  I  had  no  son  Rome  would  not  be  in  this 
danger,  I  am  too  old  to  bear  much  longer  your 
shame  and  my  own  misery.  Look  to  your  wife  and 
children;  if  you  continue  in  your  present  course 
you  will  send  them  to  an  early  death." 

Coriolanus  w^as  so  grieved  that  for  some  minutes 
he  could  not  speak.     At  last  he  cried  out : 

"  Oh,  mother,  what  have  you  done  to  me  ?  You 
have  saved  Rome,  but  you  have  ruined  your  son." 

Then  he  embraced  his  mother  and  looked  at  her 
sadly  for  a  moment.  He  also  embraced  and  kissed 
his  wife  and  children  and  told  them  to  go  back  to 
Rome,  for  they  would  be  safe  there.  The  women 
then  returned  to  the  city  and  Coriolanus  marched 
away  with  the  Volscian  army.     Rome  was  saved  ! 

Coriolanus  lived  the  rest  of  his  life  with  the  Vol- 
scians,  but  he  never  again  made  war  against  his 
native  city.  It  is  supposed  that  he  died  about 
the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  before  Christ. 


THE   FABII 

At  about  tlie  time  in  which  Coriolanus  lived  the 
family  of  the  Fa'bi-i  were  very  powerful  in  Rome. 
Among  the  leaders  or  chief  men  of  the  family  at 
that  period  were  Quin'tus  Fa'bi-us,  Marcus  Fabius, 
and  Cse'so  Fabius. 

In  those  times  the  Roman  nobles  were  very  rich 
and  powerful.  They  held  all  the  high  offices  of 
government  and  cared  very  little  about  the  wel- 
fare of  the  plebeians.  Often  they  treated  them 
very  harshly. 

The  Fabii  also  treated  the  plebeians  harshly. 
Once  when  Quintus  Fabius  defeated  the  Volscians 
in  a  battle,  he  sold  all  the  valuable  things  he  took 
from  the  enemy  and  put  the  money  into  the  public 
treasury.  Such  things  were  called  spoils.  The 
Roman  generals  usually  divided  the  spoils  among 
the  soldiers.  This  was  the  way  the  soldiers  were 
paid  in  those  days.  But  Quintus  Fabius  would 
not  divide  the  spoils.  So  the  soldiers  w6re  very 
bitter  against  him. 

But  some  time  afterwards    Marcus   Fabius    was 


THE   FABII  73 

elected  consul,  and  once  after  a  great  battle  with 
the  Ve'i-en-ti-ans,  a  people  of  Etriiria,  lie  took  the 
entire  care  of  the  poor  wounded  soldiers  and  sup 
plied  all  their  wants  at  his  own  expense. 

The  next  year  his  brother  Caeso  Fabius  was  consul, 
and  he  tried  to  get  the  Senate  to  divide  among  the 
poor  citizens  the  lands  that  had  been  taken  from 
the  Veientians  and  other  people  whom  the  Komans 
had  defeated  in  war.  Often  afterwards  in  the  Senate 
the  voice  of  a  Fabius  was  heard  speaking  for  justice 
to  the  plebeians.  The  common  people,  therefore, 
soon  loved  the  whole  family  of  the  Fabii  instead  of 
hating  them  as  they  had  before. 

The  nobles  were  very  angry  because  the  Fabii 
took  the  side  of  the  plebeians,  and  they  threatened 
to  do  all  they  could  against  them.  Now  the  Fabii 
saw  clearly  that  it  would  be  useless  to  attempt  to 
fight  the  nobles,  because  the  nobles  had  a  great  deal 
of  power  and  could  do  almost  whatever  they 
pleased  in  Kome.  Therefore,  the  Fabii  thought 
that  it  would  be  better  for  them  to  remove  from 
the  city  and  make  a  new  home  for  themselves  some- 
where else.  So  they  resolved  to  do  this,  and  the 
place  they  selected  was  on  the  banks  of  the  River 
Crem'e-ra,  a  few  miles  from  Rome. 

At  this  time  the  Romans  were  again  at  war  with 
the   Veientians.     These   people   lived   in   Ve'i-i,  a 


Y4  FAMOUS  MEN   OF  ROME 

city  on  the  Cremera  River.  One  day,  when  there 
was  a  discussion  in  the  Roman  Senate  about  this  war, 
Caeso  Fabius  said : 

^'  As  you  know,  we  of  the  house  of  the  Fabii  are 
going  to  leave  Rome  and  settle  on  the  borders  of  the 
country  of  the  Veientians.  If  you  give  us  permis- 
sion we  will  fight  those  people  and  try  to  defeat  them 
for  the  honor  of  Rome  and  the  glory  of  our  house. 
We  will  ask  neither  money  nor  men  from  the  Senate. 
We  will  carry  on  the  war  with  our  own  men  and  at 
our  own  cost." 

The  senators  were  glad  of  the  chance  to  get  rid  of 
the  Fabii,  and  so  they  at  once  gave  them  the  per- 
mission they  asked  for.  The  Fabii  then  began  to 
make  preparations  for  their  departure.  There  were 
over  three  hundred  men  in  addition  to  w^omen-folk, 
children,  and  servants,  and  when  all  were  ready 
they  marched  out  of  the  city  to  their  new  home 
with  Caeso  Fabius  at  their  head. 

At  first  the  Fabii  had  only  a  camp  on  the  Crem- 
era River,  but  afterwards  they  built  a  small  city, 
with  a  strong  fortress.  Many  good  Roman  soldiers 
came  and  joined  them,  and  soon  they  had  a  fine 
army  of  earnest,  devoted  men. 

The  Veientians  were  soon  conquered.  Fabius  and 
his  brave  men  defeated  them  in  several  battles,  and 
at  last  the  Veientians  made  up  their  minds  that  they 


THE   FABH  75 

had  got  enougli  of  war.  Then  they  i-eturned  to  their 
own  city  of  Veii  and  remained  quiet  for  a  long 
time.  But  they  declared  that  they  would  destroy 
the  Fabii  whenever  they  could  get  the  chance. 

Now  it  was  an  old  custom  of  the  Fabii  to  have  a 
special  worship  of  the  gods  on  a  certain  day  of  every 
year.  Early  in  the  morning  of  that  day  all  the  men 
of  the  family  would  go  in  a  body  to  a  famous  temple 
on  a  hill  near  Rome  and  have  religious  services  for 
several  hours.  The  men  took  no  arms  with  them, 
as  it  was  thought  improper  to  go  armed  to  religious 
worship. 

The  Veieutians  heard  of  this  annual  religious  ser- 
vice of  the  Fabii  and  saw  in  it  a  chance  for  revenge. 
So  they  resolved  to  kill  the  Fabii  the  next  time  they 
went  to  the  temple  for  their  special  service.  When 
the  day  came  the  Fabii  set  out  as  usual.  On  their 
way  to  the  temple  they  had  to  go  over  a  road  which 
had  higli,  steep  rocks  on  each  side.  There  a  large 
number  of  Veientian  soldiers  hid  themselves,  and 
when  the  unsuspecting  Fabii  came  along  a  furious 
attack  was  made  on  them  from  front  and  rear.  With- 
out arms  they  could  not  fight  very  well.  They  made 
the  best  defence  they  could,  but  it  was  useless. 
They  were  all  killed  except  one  young  man  who 
escaped  to  Eome.  Thus  the  cowardly  Veientians 
had  their  revenge. 


OINCINNATUS 


In  the  mountains  east  of  Latium  there  lived  a 
rather  wild  people  called  ^'qui-ans,  who  were  very 
often  at  war  with  Rome.  After  some  time  of  peace 
and  good  conduct  these  people  suddenly  began  to 
plunder  the  rich  farms  of  the  Romans.  This  was 
about  four  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  the  birth 
of  Christ  and  not  long  after  the  Veientians  had 
destroyed  the  Fabian  family.  As  soon  as  the 
Roman  Senate  heard  what  the  ^quians  were 
doing  it  sent  messengers  to  the  ^quian  king  to 
complain  of  the  wrong.  The  messengers  found 
the  king  in  his  camp,  sitting  near  a  huge  oak  tree. 
But  when  they  spoke  to  him  he  answered  them 
rudely,  saying: 

"  I  am  too  busy  now  with  other  matters.  Go  tell 
your  message  to  the  oak  yonder !  " 

This  made  the  messengers  very  angry,  and  one  of 
them  said: 

"  We  shall  tell  it  to  the  oak,  but  we  shall  tell  it 
also  to  the  gods  and  call  them  to  witness  how  you 


CINCINNATU8  77 

have  broken  the  peace  !  And  they  shall  be  on  our 
side  when  we  come  to  punish  you  and  your  people 
for  the  crimes  you  have  committed  against  us." 

And  it  is  said  that  the  angry  messengers  did  tell 
the  message  to  the  oak,  and  to  all  the  other  trees 
around,  and  boldly  shouted  that  war  would  come 
from  this  insult  to  Rome. 

Then  the  messengers  returned  to  Rome  and  told 
the  Senate  how  they  had  been  insulted  by  the 
^quian  king.  The  Senate  at  once  declared  war 
against  the  ^quians  and  ordered  the  Consul  Mi- 
nu'ci-us  to  lead  an  army  against  them. 

The  Romans  easily  won  a  few  battles  at  first. 
Then  the  ^quians  began  to  retreat  as  if  they  did 
not  mean  to  fight  any  more.  The  Romans  followed 
swiftly,  until  they  were  drawn  into  a  narrow  valley 
on  each  side  of  which  were  high,  rocky  hills.  It 
was  a  trap,  and  the  Romans  knew  it  before  they  had 
marched  very  far  from  the  entrance. 

The  ^quian  king  then  closed  up  the  valley  with 
strong  barricades  and  placed  his  troops  at  the  en- 
trance and  along  the  hills,  so  that  the  Romans 
could  not  get  out. 

In  the  valley  there  was  very  little  grass  for  the 
horses  and  no  food  for  the  men,  so  that  if  the 
Romans  were  not  soon  relieved  both  they  and  their 
horses  would  die  of  hunger. 


Y8  FAMOUS   MEN   OP  ROME 


n 


But  luckily,  for  the  Romans  a  few  of  their  horse- 
men had  managed  to  get  out  of  the  valley  before 
the  -^quians  closed  it.  These  horsemen  rode  as 
fast  as  they  could  to  Rome  and  told  the  Senate  how 
Minucius  and  his  soldiers  were  placed.  What  was 
to  be  done  ?  No  one  seemed  to  know  at  first,  but 
after  a  good  deal  of  discussion,  a  senator  said : 

"  Let  us  make  Lucius  Quinc'ti-us  dictator.  He  is 
the  only  man  who  can  save  us." 

The  Senate  agreed  to  this,  and  so  Lucius  Quinc- 
tius  was  chosen  dictator.  A  dictator  had  more 
power  than  the  Senate  or  the  consuls.  All  his  com- 
mands had  to  be  obeyed  just  as  if  he  were  a  king. 
But  there  was  not  a  dictator  always.  A  dictator 
was  appointed  only  when  there  was  some  great 
danger,  and  he  held  office  only  for  six  months. 

Lucius  Quinctius  belonged  to  a  noble  family.  He 
was  a  great  soldier  and  had  won  many  battles  for 
his  country.  He  had  such  beautiful,  long,  curly  hair 
that  the  people  called  him  Cin' cin-na' tus,  which 
means  curly-haired,  and  this  is  the  name  by  which 
he  is  known  in  history. 

At  the  time  Cincinnatus  was  appointed  dictator 
he  lived  on  a  small  farm  outside  of   Rome,     He 


CINCINNATUS  79 

worked  on  the  farm  Mmself,  and  when  the  mes- 
sengers from  the  Senate  came  to  tell  him  that  he 
had  been  chosen  dictator  they  found  him  ploughing 
in  one  of  his  fields.  He  left  his  plough  where 
it  stood  and  hastened  to  Rome,  where  he  was  wel- 
comed by  all  the  people. 

The  first  thing  he  did  was  to  raise  a  new  army. 
He  gave  orders  that  every  man  of  suitable  age 
should  buckle  on  his  sword  and  be  ready  in  a  few 
hours  to  march  to  the  help  of  Minucius  and  his 
soldiers. 

Before  evening  Cincinnatus  and  his  army  marched 
out  of  the  city  for  the  Alban  Hills,  where  the  Ro- 
mans were  shut  up.  They  reached  the  place  in  the 
early  morning  and  formed  in  a  line  all  around  the 
hills.  The  ^quians  then  found  themselves  hemmed 
in  on  every  side  between  two  Roman  armies — ^the 
army  of  Minucius  and  the  army  of  Cincinnatus. 
They  fought  as  well  as  they  could,  but  they  were 
quickly  overpowered,  so  that  they  could  do  nothing 
but  cry  to  the  Roman  conimander  to  spare  their 
lives. 

Cincinnatus  spared  their  lives,  but  he  made  them 
pass  undei'  the  yoke.  The  yoke  was  formed  of  two 
spears,  fixed  upright  in  the  ground,  and  a  third 
fastened  across  near  the  top  from  one  to  the  other. 
Cincinnatus   made   the   ^quians    lay   down   their 


80 


FAMOUS   MEN  OF  ROME 


arms  and  pass  out,  every  man  of  them,  under  tlie 
yoke  of  spears.  They  had  to  bend  their  heads  as 
they  did  so,  for  the  spears  were  not  very  long,  and 
the  one  on  the  top  was  only  a  few  feet  from  the 
ground.  The  yoke  was  set  up  between  two  lines  of 
Roman  soldiers,  and  as  the  ^quians  passed  under  it 
the  Romans  jeered  at  them  and  taunted  them. 


PASSING   UNDER  THE   YOKE 


Having  to  pass  under  the  yoke  was  regarded  as 
the  greatest  disgrace  that  could  happen  to  soldiers. 
Many  much  preferred  to  suffer  death.  The  practice 
has  given  to  our  language  the  word  subjugate^  mean- 
ing to  subdue  or  conquer,  from  the  Latin  words  suh^ 
under,  smdjugumj  sl  yoke. 

"When  the  soldiers  of  Consul  Minucius  came  out 
of   the  valley  they  shouted   for  joy  and   crowded 


CINCINNATU8  81 

around  Cincinnatus,  thanking  him  as  their  deliverer 
and  protector.  "Let  us  give  Cincinnatus  a  golden 
crown  ! "  they  cried ;  but  the  great  general  only- 
smiled,  shook  his  head,  and  gave  the  order  for  the 
homeward  march. 

•  Great  was  the  rejoicing  in  Rome  when  the  news 
of  the  victory  was  received.  The  Senate  ordered 
that  there  should  be  a  general  holiday  and  a  grand 
parade  through  the  city.  And  so  the  victorious 
army  marched  into  Rome  amid  the  shouts  and 
cheers  of  the  people. 

Cincinnatus  rode  in  a  splendid  chariot  drawn  by 
six  handsome  black  horses.  He  wore  the  dress  of 
dictator  of  Rome,  and  on  his  head  was  a  laurel 
wreath.  Behind  his  chariot  the  ^quian  king  and 
his  chiefs  walked,  looking  very  humble  and  forlorn. 
Following  them  were  slaves  laden  with  the  arms 
and  other  valuable  things  taken  from  the  enemy's 
camp.  With  bugles  and  trumpets  gayly  sounding, 
the  parade  went  through  the  city.  The  chariot  of 
Cincinnatus  was  followed  by  a  throng  of  people 
cheering  and  crying,  "  Hail  to  the  Dictator ! 
Hail  to  the  Conqueror!"  Flowers  were  show- 
ered upon  him  and  thrown  before  his  chariot 
wheels. 

A  few  days  afterward  Cincinnatus  gave  up  the 

office  of  dictator  and  went  back  to  his  little  farm. 
6 


CAMILLUS 
I 

Abotjt  three  hundred  and  eighty  years  before  the 
birth  of  Christ  the  Romans  had  another  war  with 
the  Veientians.  During  this  war  they  tried  to  take 
the  rich  city  of  Veii,  which  was  about  twelve  miles 
from  Rome.  But  there  was  a  great  wall  of  stone  all 
around  the  city,  and  the  gates,  which  were  of  brass, 
were  very  high  and  very  strong.  So  the  Romans, 
though  they  tried  as  hard  as  they  could  for  seven 
years,  were  not  able  to  take  Veii. 

And  to  make  matters  worse  for  them  it  was  re- 
ported that  twelve  Etruscan  cities  were  going  to 
send  armies  to  help  the  Veientians.  It  was  also 
said  that  as  soon  as  the  twelve  armies  had  driven 
the  Romans  away  from  the  walls  of  Veii,  they  would 
march  to  Rome  and  destroy  the  city. 

The  Romans  were  much  alarmed  by  these  reports, 
and  they  resolved  that  there  should  be  a  dictator. 
So  the  Senate  appointed  a  dictator,  and  the  man 
appointed  was  Marcus  Fu'ri-us  Ca-mirius. 

Camillus  was  one  of  the  greatest  men  of  Rome. 


CAMILLUS  83 

He  belonged  to  a  very  rich  and  powerful  family,  and 
he  was  a  great  soldier.  When  he  was  made  dicta- 
tor he  raised  a  large  army  and  marched  at  once  to 
Veii.  He  tried  a  long  time  to  break  down  the 
walls  or  gates,  but  he  could  not  do  it.  Then  he 
thought  of  the  plan  of  digging  a  tunnel  under  the 
walls. 

This  seemed  a  good  idea,  so  Camillus  set  a  great 
number  of  his  men  to  work.  Soon  they  had  a  tun- 
nel dug  under  the  walls  and  so  far  under  the  city 
that  they  thought  they  were  as  far  as  the  great  tem- 
ple of  Juno,  which  was  in  the  fort  or  strongest  part 
of  Veii.  Here  they  stopped  to  consider  what  next 
to  do.  Suddenly  the  sound  of  voices,  as  of  people 
talking  in  the  temple  above  them,  reached  their  ears. 
So  they  sent  for  Camillus,  and  when  he  came  he 
listened  to  the  voices. 

Now  it  happened  that  at  that  moment  the  king 
of  Veii  was  in  the  temple  preparing  to  offer  an  ox 
as  a  sacrifice  to  Juno  and  praying  to  the  goddess  to 
save  the  city  from  the  Romans.  The  ox  was  killed 
and  its  carcass  was  ready  to  be  laid  on  the  altar. 
After  the  king  had  prayed  one  of  the  priests,  pre- 
tending that  he  had  received  an  answer  from  Juno, 
cried  out : 

"  The  goddess  declares  she  will  give  victory  to 
him  who  offers  this  as  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar." 


84  FAMOUS  MEN   OF  ROME 

As  soon  as  Camillus,  who  was  listening  all  tlie 
time,  heard  these  words  of  the  priest,  he  ordered  his 
men  to  break  an  opening  in  the  earth  over  their 
heads.  This  was  quickly  done,  and  the  Romans 
sprang  through  into  the  midst  of  the  worshipers. 
They  at  once  seized  the  carcass  of  the  ox,  and  Camil- 
lus himself  offered  it  upon  the  altar  to  Juno.  Then 
he  and  his  companions  rushed  out  of  the  temple 
and  opened  the  gates  of  the  city  before  the  astonished 
and  frightened  people  knew  what  was  being  done. 

As  soon  as  the  gates  were  opened  the  Roman  sol- 
diers poured  in  by  thousands.  The  Veientians  fought 
bravely,  but  they  were  quickly  defeated,  and  their 
great  and  rich  city  was  at  last  in  the  hands  of  the 
Romans. 

In  those  times,  as  has  already  been  said,  it  was  the 
custom  to  divide  among  the  victorious  soldiers  the 
valuable  things  taken  from  a  defeated  enemy.  The 
riches  of  Veii  were,  therefore,  divided  among  the 
Roman  soldiers,  and  there  were  so  many  precious 
things — gold  and  silver  and  jewelry — that  the  men 
were  quite  rich  when  each  got  his  share. 


II 


Some  time  after  the  taking  of  Veii  the  Romans 
were  at  war  with  the  Fa-lis'ci-ans,  another  people 


CAMILLUS  86 

of  Etruria,  and  Camillus 
went  with  an  army  to  be- 
siege their  chief  town, 
which  was  called  Fa-le'ri-i. 
He  made  his  camp  in  front 
of  the  walls,  stationed  sol- 
diers all  round  and  tried 
hard  to  take  the  town. 
But  the  Faliscians  were 
very  strong  and  brave, 
and  they  defended  their 
town  so  well  that  Camillus 
began  to  be  afraid  he 
would  not  be  able  to  take 
it  at  all. 

Now  there  was  at  that 
time  in  Falerii  a  school- 
master who  taught  the  sons 
of  the  chief  citizens  of  the  town.  This  school- 
master used  to  take  his  boys  every  day  for  a  walk 
outside  the  walls.  One  day  he  led  them  within 
the  lines  of  the  Roman  army  and  brought  them 
into  the  camp  of  Camillus. 

Camillus  was  surprised  at  seeing  the  boys.  He 
asked  the  schoolmaster  who  they  were  and  why  he 
had  brought  them  there.  The  schoolmaster  told 
who  the  boys  were  and  then  said: 


fUIlLLUtt 


86  FAMOUS  I^IEN   OF   ROJklE 

"  I  bring  tliem  here  to  give  them  up  to  you.  In 
doing  this  I  give  you  up  the  city,  for  their  fathers 
will  surrender  the  city  to  you  in  order  to  get  back 
their  children." 

Camillus  stood  for  a  moment  in  silence,  gazing  at 
the  traitor  with  a  look  of  disgust.  Then  in  an 
angry  voice  he  cried  out : 

"  Villain,  we  Romans  are  not  so  base  as  you  are. 
We  do  not  make  war  upon  children,  but  upon  men 
who  do  us  wrong." 

He  then  ordered  some  of  his  soldiers  to  tie  the 
schoolmaster's  hands  behind  his  back  and  to  give 
each  of  the  boys  a  rod,  telling  them  to  scourge  the 
traitor  before  them  into  the  city.  This  the  boys 
did  with  a  hearty  good-will.  They  whipped  the 
unworthy  schoolmaster  into  Falerii,  and  when  the 
people  saw  the  sight  and  heard  of  the  noble  con- 
duct of  Camillus,  they  resolved  not  to  fight  any 
more  against  so  good  a  man.  So  they  sent  ambas- 
sadors to  Rome  to  make  peace,  and  the  Romans  aiid 
Faliscians  became  good  friends. 

Ill 

Not  long  after  this  time  one  of  the  tribunes 
brought  a  charge  against  Camillus  that  he  had  kept 
for  his  own  use  more  than  his  fair  share  of  the 


CAMILLU8  87 

spoils  of  Veil.  Some  valuable  things  were  noticed 
in  his  house,  and  it  was  said  that  he  had  not  got 
them  as  part  of  his  share.  It  was  believed,  therefore, 
that  he  had  taken  them  secretly  from  Veil.    * 

The  Romans  were  very  particular  upon  this  point. 
They  had  strict  laws  for  the  division  of  spoils  ob- 
tained in  war,  and  no  one  was  permitted  to  take 
more  than  he  w^as  entitled  to,  according  to  his  rank 
in  the  army. 

Camillus  was  summoned  to  appear  in  the  peo- 
ple's court  to  answer  the  charge  made  against 
him.  But  he  would  not  humble  himself  so  much  as 
to  go  before  the  j^lebeians  to  be  tried.  He  preferred 
rather  to  leave  Rome  forever.  So  the  great  Camil- 
lus departed  from  his  native  city,  intending  never 
to  return.  As  he  passed  out  of  the  gates  he  prayed 
to  the  gods  that  some  dreadful  thing  might  happen 
to  the  Romans,  so  that  they  would  be  forced  to  call 
him  back  again  to  Rome  to  save  the  city. 

And  very  soon  something  did  happen  which  com- 
pelled the  Romans  to  ask  for  the  help  of  Camillus. 
For  a  long  time  a  people  called  the  Gauls  had  been 
doing  a  great  deal  of  mischief  in  some  parts  of  Italy. 
These  people  came  from  the  country  now  known  as 
France,  which  in  ancient  times  was  called  Gaul. 
Thousands  of  them  made  their  way  across  the  high 
mountains  called  the  Alps  and  settled  on  the  plains 


88  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

of  northern  Italy.  For  many  years  they  lived  in 
this  region.  Then  they  heard  that  further  south 
the  country  was  very  beautiful  and  was  rich  in 
corn  and  cattle,  so  they  started  out  in  great  num- 
bers to  conquer  it. 

/  They  were  a  strange,  savage  people,  very  differ- 
ent from  the  Romans  or  the  Etruscans.  They  were 
very  tall  and  strong  and  had  long,  shaggy  black 
hair  and  dark,  fierce  faces,  so  that  they  appeared 
very  terrible  to  the  Italians.  In  battle  they  showed 
all  their  savage  nature.  They  rushed  furiously  at 
their  enemies,  yelling  at  the  top  of  their  voices, 
flourishing  enormous  swords,  and  blowing  trumpets. 

The  chief  or  king  of  the  Gauls  at  this  time  was 
called  Bren'nus.  He  was  a  man  of  great  strength 
and  size.  He  wore  a  golden  collar  around  his  neck, 
and  on  his  arms,  which  were  bare,  he  sometimes 
wore  bracelets  of  gold. 

The  Gauls  found  the  southern  lands  very  much 
to  their  liking.  They  robbed  farms,  attacked  some 
of  the  Etruscan  cities,  and  then,  after  a  short  time, 
they  marched  for  Rome.  A  great  Roman  army 
went  out  to  fight  them,  and  the  two  armies  met  on 
the  banks  of  a  river  called  the  Al'li-a. 

The  Roman  soldiers  had  never  before  seen  the 
dreadful  Gauls.  They  were,  therefore,  greatly  terri- 
fied when  the  tall,  fierce-looking  savages  came  run- 


CAMTLLUS 


ning  over  tlie  plains  in  vast  numbers,  shouting  furi- 
ously and  blowing  tbeir  trumpets.  And  tbougb  the 
Roman  general,  Marcus  Man'li-us,  tried  to  make  his 
men  go  forward  bravely  to  meet  the  Gauls  it  was 
useless.  They  fought  badly  and  were  killed  by 
thousands.  At  last  they  ran  from  the  field  and  fled 
toward  Rome. 


IV 


.  When  the  defeated  soldiers  reached  Rome  and 
told  what  had  happened,  there  was  great  terror  in 
the  city.  Most  of  the  people  bundled  up  their 
household  goods  and  fled  to  hiding-places  in  the 
mountains  close  by,  where  they  thought  they  would 
be  safe  from  the  Gauls. 

But  many  of  the  senators  and  other  brave  men, 
both  nobles  and  plebeians,  instead  of  running  away 
from  the  city  went  up  to  the  Capitol,  fastened  the 
gates,  and  made  ready  for  a  siege.  The  Capitol  was 
the  most  sacred  part  of  the  city.  It  contained 
splendid  statues  of  Jupiter,  Juno,  and  Minerva, 
and,  as  you  know,  the  famous  Sibylline  Books. 

Some  old  men  who  had  been  consuls  resolved 
to  remaiir  in  the  city  and  wait  for  the  Gauls  to 
come.  They  thought  that  if  the  Gauls  should  kill 
them  they  would  then  be  satisfied  and  would  spare 


90 


FAMOUS  MEN   OF   ROME 


the  city.  So 
the  patriotic 
old  men 
dressed  them- 
selves in  their 
finest  robes 
and  sat  in 
chairs  in  the 
Forum,  each 
with  an  ivory 
staff  in  his 
right  hand. 

When  the 
Gauls  reached 
the  city  there 
was  no  one  to 
oppose  them.  They  marched  on  to  the  Forum  and 
found  the  old  men,  with  long  white  beards,  sitting 
in  their  chairs,  so  still  that  they  looked  like  statues. 
A  Gaul  went  up  to  one  of  them  and  pulled  his 
beard  to  see  if  he  were  a  living  person.  Instantly 
the  old  man  raised  his  staff  and  struck  the  barbarian 
in  the  face.  The  Gauls  then  fell  U23on  the  patriots 
and  killed  them.     Then  they  began  to  plunder. 

After  destroying  the  greater  part  of  the  city  the 
Gauls  turned  their  attention  to  the  Capitol.  The 
rock  on  which  it  was  built  was  high  and  steep. 


THE  KOMAN   A^D  THE  GAUL 


CAMILLUS  91 

Brennus  led  his  soldiers  up  the  hill,  but  the 
Eomans  in  the  Capitol  rushed  down  the  narrow 
road  and  after  a  few  minutes  of  brave  fighting 
drove  them  back.  The  Gauls  made  another  at- 
tempt, but  it  was  no  more  successful  than  the  first. 

Brennus  saw  that  the  Komans  could  not  be  driven 
from  the  Capitol.  He  therefore  decided  to  starve 
them  out.  He  put  a  strong  guard  at  the  entrance, 
so  that  the  Romans  could  not  come  out  to  get  food. 
For  weeks  the  Capitol  was  thus  besieged,  but  its 
faithful  defenders  held  out  manfully. 

Meanwhile  the  people  who  had  fled  from  Eome 
took  courage  again.  They  gathered  at  the  city  of 
Veii  and  organized  a  strong  army  to  fight  the 
Gauls.  But  they  wanted  a  commander,  and  then 
they  thought  of  Camillus.  All  agreed  that  he 
would  be  the  right  man  to  be  their  general.  So 
they  resolved  to  send  for  him,  but  first  they  thought 
they  must  have  the  approval  of  the  Senate.  Here 
was  a  difficulty.  How  could  a  messenger  get  to  the 
Senate  while  the  Gauls  were  around  the  Capitol  ? 
This  puzzled  them  for  a  good  while,  but  at  last  a 
young  man  named  Pon'ti-us  Com-in'i-us  volunteered 
to  carry  a  message  to  the  Capitol. 

So  on  a  very  dark  night  Pontius  left  Veii  and 
swam  down  the  Tiber  UDtil  he  reached  the  Capi- 
toline  Hill.     Then  he  went  on  shore  and  crept  up 


9g  FA.M0U8  MEN   OF   ROME 

the  hill  as  far  as  the  great  rock.  The  Gauls  had 
put  no  guard  there,  for  they  thought  no  one  could 
climb  the  rock  because  it  was  so  steep. 

By  great  efforts  Pontius  managed  to  climb  up. 
Several  times  he  was  near  falling.  But  by  cling- 
ing to  the  vines  and  bushes  that  grew  on  the  rock 
he  came  to  the  top  at  last.  His  countrymen  in 
the  Capitol  were  delighted  to  see  him.  They 
were  also  very  glad  when  they  heard  about  the 
army  at  Veii,  and  the  Senate  at  once  approved  of 
the  proposal  about  Camillus.  It  was  agreed  not 
only  to  make  him  general,  but  to  make  him  dicta- 
tor. Then  Cominius  went  down  the  rock  and  the 
hill  by  the  way  he  had  come  up  and  hastened  ofl: 
to  Veii. 


The  next  day  some  of  the  Gauls,  while  walking 
along  this  side  of  the  hill,  noticed  footmarks  in 
the  soil.  They  also  noticed  that  bushes,  grow- 
ing high  up  on  the  rock,  were  crushed  and  torn. 
Then  they  knew  that  some  one  had  gone  up  or 
come  down  the  cliff,  and  they  resolved  to  try  to  go 
up  themselves  that  night. 

So  shortly  after  midnight,  when  they  thought 
that  the  Komans  would  be  fast  asleep,  a  party  of 


CAMILLUS  93 

Gauls  began  cautiously  and  silently  to  clamber 
up  the  steep  rock.  Some  placed  their  shields 
across  their  shoulders  for  others  to  stand  upon, 
and  in  this  way  they  supported  one  another,  until 
at  last  some  of  them  made  their  way  very  near  to 
the  top  and  one  got  just  to  the  edge  of  a  balcony 
of  the  Capitol.  No  one  within  the  building  heard 
them,  not  even  the  watch-dogs. 

But  at  that  moment  there  was  a  loud  cackling  of 
geese.  These  birds  were  thought  to  be  favorite 
birds  of  the  goddess  Juno.  Many  were  kept  in  the 
Capitol,  and  some  of  them  happened  just  then  to  be 
at  the  side  the  Gauls  were  climbing  up.  The  move- 
ments of  the  climbers,  quiet  though  they  were,  dis- 
turbed the  geese  and  they  began  to  cackle  and  flap 
their  wings. 

The  noise  aroused  Marcus  Manlius  from  his 
sleep.  He  sprang  from  his  bed,  seized  his  sword 
and  shield,  and  ran  to  the  balcony.  There  he  saw 
a  Gaul  climbing  on  to  the  parapet  and  others 
scrambling  up  behind.  Marcus  rushed  upon  him, 
struck  him  in  the  face  with  his  shield,  and  tumbled 
him  headlong  down  the  rock. 

As  the  Gaul  fell  he  knocked  down  some  of  his 
companions  who  were  climbing  behind  him.  The 
geese  still  kept  up  their  loud  cackling,  and  soon 
all  the  Romans  were  awakened    and  came  quickly 


Motte 


THE  GEESE   OF  THE  CAPITOL 


CAMILLUS  95 

to  tlie  assistance  of  Marcus.  The  Gauls  were  hurled 
back  as  they  mounted  the  rock,  and  in  a  few  min- 
utes all  who  had  come  up  were  dashed  down  the 
steep  cliff  and  killed.  Thus  the  Capitol  was  saved 
by  the  cackling  of  geese.  For  his  brave  action  on 
this  occasion  Marcus  Manlius  was  honored  by  being 
called  Marcus  Cap'i-to-li'nus, 


VI 


Bretttots  now  saw  that  he  could  not  take  the 
Capitol,  so  he  thought  it  would  be  useless  to  re- 
main any  longer  in  Rome.  He  therefore  offered 
to  go  away  if  the  Senate  would  give  him  a  thousand 
pounds  of  gold.  ^  The  Senate  thought  it  better  to 
do  this.  Food  was  very  scarce  in  the  Capitol  and 
in  a  few  days  the  brave  men  there  would  have 
none  at  all.  They  had  heard  nothing  further  from 
the  army  at  Veii  and  they  were  not  sure  that  help 
could  come  in  time  to  save  them. 

So  the  Senate  resolved  to  give  the  thousand 
pounds  of  gold  to  the  Gauls,  and  an  officer  named 
Quin'tus  Sul-pit'i-us  was  sent  with  some  lictors, 
to  deliver  it  to  Brennus.  But  the  gold  had  to  be 
weighed  and  the  Gauls  attempted  to  cheat  the 
Romans  by  using  false  weights.  When  Sulpitius 
complained  of  this,  Brennus  took  off  his  sword  and 


WOE   TO   THE   CONQUERED 


CAMILLUS  97 

threw  it,  belt  and  all,  into  one  of  the  scales,  and 
when  Sulpitius  asked  what  that  meant  Brennus 
answered : 

"What  should  it  mean  but  woe  to  the  con- 
quered ? " 

At  that  moment  Camillus  appeared  at  the  gates 
with  his  army.  He  soon  learned  what  was  going 
on.  Quickly  he  marched  to  the  spot  and  ordered 
the  lictors  to  take  the  gold  out  of  the  scale  and 
carry  it  back  to  the  Roman  treasury.  Then  he 
turned  to  Brennus  and  addressing  him  in  a  stern 
voice  said : 

"  We  Romans  defend  our  country,  not  with  gold, 
but  with  steel." 

Immediately  there  was  a  battle,  and  the  Gauls 
were  defeated  and  driven  out  of  the  city.  Next 
day  there  was  another  battle  a  few  miles  from 
Rome,  and  the  Gauls  were  again  defeated  and  thou- 
sands of  them  slain. 

Camillus  then  returned  to  Rome  at  the  head  of 
his  victorious  army.  The  people  received  him  with 
shouts  of  joy  and  for  several  days  they  had  cele- 
brations in  his  honor.  They  called  him  the  second 
Romulus,  meaning  that  he  was  the  second  founder 
of  the  city.  They  also  called  him  the  Father  of 
Ills  Country. 

7 


98  FAMOUS  MEN   OF   ROME 


VII 


It  was  in  the  time  of  Camilliis  that  a  great  hole 
or  chasm,  caused  perhaps  by  an  earthquake,  sud- 
denly appeared  in  the  ground  in  the  middle  of  the 
Forum.  Workmen  were  sent  to  fill  it  up,  but  no 
matter  how  much  earth  they  threw  into  it  the  hole 
seemed  to  be  as  large  and  deep  as  before.  The 
Senate  then  consulted  the  augurs  and  they  said  the 
hole  could  not  be  filled  up  until  what  was  most 
valuable  in  Rome  was  cast  into  it.  Then  the  people 
began  to  throw  in  gold  and  silver  and  jewelry,  but 
still  the  hole  was  as  deep  as  ever.  At  last  a  young 
man  named  Cuiiius  said  that  the  most  valuable 
things  the  Romans  had  were  their  arms  and  their 
courage.  Then  he  put  on  his  armor  and  his  sword 
and  mounting  his  horse  rode  into  the  Forum  and 
leaped  into  the  great  hole.  Immediately  it  closed 
up  behind  him,  and  neither  he  nor  his  horse  was 
ever  seen  again. 

In  the  old  Roman  stories  Curtius  is  much  praised 
as  a  patriot  and  hero.  The  people  thought  he  had 
saved  his  country  from  some  great  evil,  which  they 
believed  would  have  happened  to  it  if  the  hole  in 
the  Fomm  had  not  been  closed  up. 


MANLIUS   TORQUATUS 

Marcus  Manlitjs,  wlio  commanded  the  "Roman 
army  at  the  battle  of  Allia  and  who  so  well  de- 
fended the  Capitol  against  the  Gauls,  belonged  to 
a  family  known  as  the  Man'li-i.  This  family  gave 
many  brave  generals  to  the  Republic.  One  of  them 
was  named  Titus  Manlius. 

Some  years  after  the  siege  of  the  Capitol  Titus 
had  a  remarkable  fight  with  a  huge  Gaul.  The 
Gauls  had  come  back  to  make  war  again  upon  Rome. 
Their  army  was  encamped  near  a  bridge  on  the 
A'ni-o,  a  small  river  a  few  miles  from  the  city,  and 
the  Roman  army  sent  to  oppose  them  was  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river,  waiting  for  a  good  oppor- 
tunity for  battle. 

Every  day  a  Gaul  of  gigantic  size,  who  wore 
round  his  neck  a  collar  or  chain  of  twisted  gold 
threads,  used  to  come  to  the  bridge  to  insult  the 
Romans.  He  would  call  them  cowai-ds  who  were 
afraid  to  fight.  One  day  he  dared  them  to  send 
some  one  out  to  fight  with  him.  Manlius  at  once 
accepted    the  challenge,  and  the  two  immediately 


100  FAMOUS  MEN   OF  ROME 

took  their  places  in  an  open  space  within  sight 
of  both  armies. 

The  Gaul  was  so  tall  and  strong  that  the  Roman 
appeared  like  a  boy  beside  him,  and  everybody 
thought  the  big  warrior  would  have  an  easy  victory. 
But  Titus  was  very  quick  in  his  movements.  For  a 
few  moments  after  the  fight  began  he  skilfully 
dodged  the  furious  blows  of  his  opponent.  Then 
he  suddenly  ran  close  up  to  him, 
sprang  under  his  great  shield  and 
plunged  his  sword  deep  into  the 
.Gaul's  body. 

The  Gaul  fell  to  the  ground 
dead.  Then  Titus  took  the  golden 
collar   from  the   dead  man's  neck  torques 

and  put  it  on  his  own.  So  afterwards  he  was  called 
Manlius  Tor-qua'tus,  from  the  word  torques^  which 
is  Latin  foi-  a  twisted  collar. 

Manlius  Torquatus  became  consul,  but  he  was  not 
much  liked  by  the  people,  for  he  was  a  very  stern 
and  severe  ruler.  During  a  war  which  the  Romans 
had  with  the  Latins  and  some  tribes  of  South  Italy, 
Manlius  was  in  command  of  the  Roman  army.  He 
marched  to  meet  the  enemy,  who  were  assembled  in 
force  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Vesuvius. 

While  the  two  armies  were  encamped  opposite  to 
each  other,  Manlius  ordered  that  none  of  his  men 


MANLIUS   TORQUATUS  101 

should  fight  with  any  of  the  Latins  until  the  word 
for  battle  was  given.  Soon  after  a  Latin  officer  met 
young  Manlius,  the  consul's  son,  riding  in  front  of 
the  lines  with  a  troop  of  his  comrades.  They  en- 
tered into  conversation  about  the  coming  battle, 
and  each  boasted  of  the  valor  of  the  soldiers  on 
his  own  side.  At  last  the  Latin  officer  challenged 
the  young  Roman  to  single  combat. 

"  Wilt  thou,"  he  cried,  "  measure  thy  strength  with 
mine  ?  It  will  then  be  seen  how  much  the  Latin 
horseman  excels  the  Roman." 

Manlius  accepted  the  challenge,  and  in  the  fight 
which  immediately  took  place  he  was  the  victor. 
He  killed  the  Latin  and,  according  to  the  custom  of 
those  times,  stripped  him  of  his  armor  and  carried 
it  to  the  Roman  camp.  Then  he  went  to  tell  his 
father  what  he  had  done. 

"  Father,"  said  he,  "  I  present  you  this  armor, 
which  I  have  taken  from  the  enemy.  I  hope  you 
will  accept  it  as  a  proof  that  I  am  ready  and  able  to 
do  my  duty  as  a  Roman  soldier." 

Torquatus  looked  at  his  son  sadly  and  then  said : 

"  My  son,  you  say  you  are  willing  to  do  your  duty 
as  a  soldier.  But  the  first  duty  of  a  soldier  is  obe- 
dience. This  duty  you  have  not  performed,  for  you 
have  just  now  disobeyed  me,  your  commander.  You 
have  fought  with  the  enemy  without  receiving  orders 


102 


FAMOUS  MEN   OF   ROME 


to  do  SO.     But  you  shall  not  escape  punishment  be- 
cause you  are  my  son." 

Then  turning  to  his  lictors  he  said : 
"  Go,  bind  him  to  a  stake  and  cut  off  his  head." 
At  this  cruel  order  loud  cries  of  horror  came  from 
the  soldiers.     Young  Manlius  threw  himself  at  his 

father's  feet  and 
begged  for  mercy. 
But  the  stern  consul 
turned  away  from 
him  and  ordered  the 
lictors  to  perform 
their  duty.  So  the 
brave  young  Manlius 
was  led  to  a  stake 
and  bound,  and  with  one  stroke  of  the  lictor's  axe 
his  head  was  cut  from  his  body. 

Soon  afterwards  there  was  a  battle  between  the 
two  armies,  and  the  Romans  gained  a  great  victory. 
But  the  war  continued  for  some  time  longer.  It 
ended,  however,  in  the  defeat  of  the  Latins.  Man- 
lius took  possession  of  one  of  their  towns — the 
town  of  An'ti-um,  on  the  Mediterranean  coast — and 
compelled  the  inhabitants  to  give  up  their  warships. 
War  vessels  and  galleys  in  those  times  had  sharp 
prows  made  for  the  purpose  of  running  into  and 
breaking  through  the  sides  of  other  vessels.     The 


PROW   OF   GALLEY   WITH    ROSTRUM 


MANLIUS  TORQUATUS 


103 


prow  was  a  beam,  with  pointed  irons  fastened  to 
it,  and  a  metal  figure  resembling  the  beak  or  head 
of  a  bird  or  other  animal.  This  beak  was  called 
a  rostrum. 

When    the    Romans    captured    the     warships     of 


EOMAN  SHIPS  IN  BATTLE 


Antium  they  broke  off  the  beaks  and  carried  them 
to  Rome.  There  they  fastened  them  as  ornaments  to 
the  platform  in  the  Forum,  from  which  orators  ad- 
dressed the  people.  Hence  the  word  rostrum  came 
to  mean  a  platform  or  pulpit  for  public  speaking, 
and  in  this  sense  it  is  now  used  in  our  own 
language. 


APPIUS   CLAUDIUS   O^CUS 

I 

Soon  after  the  defeat  of  the  Gauls  there  lived  in 
E-ome  a  great  man  named  Ap'pi-us  Clau'di-ns.  He 
belonged  to  one  of  the  highest  families  of  the  city. 
He  was  consul  for  two  years,  and  for  several  years 
he  held  the  office  of  censor  (312-308  B.C.). 

The  censor  was  a  very  high  and  important  officer. 
He  was  not  only  head  of  the  department  for  taking 
the  census,  but  he  had  charge  of  the  collecting  of 
the  taxes,  the  erecting  of  public  buildings,  and  the 
making  of  roads  and  streets. 

Appius  Claudius  was  a  great  soldier.  Every 
Roman  citizen  had  to  be  a  soldier,  and  every  man 
who  was  consul  had  to  be  able  to  lead  armies  and 
to  light  and  win  battles.  But  Appius  Claudius  was 
chiefly  famous  for  the  great  public  works  he  planned 
and  directed  in  Rome,  which  at  that  time  was  a  city 
with  a  population  of  about  three  hundred  thousand. 
One  of  these  works  was  an  aqueduct  which  brought 
water  to  the  city  from  a  lake  eight  miles  distant. 
The  Roman  aqueducts  were  the  best  in  the  world. 


APPIUS   CLAUDIUS   C^CUS  105 

Some  of  them  that  were  built  over  two  thousand 
years  ago  are  still  in  use. 

But  the  greatest  work  of  Appius  Claudius  was 
the  making  of  a  road  from  Rome  to  Cap'u-a,  a  dis- 


THE   APPIAN  WAY 


tance  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles.  This  road 
was  called  the  Appian  Way  in  honor  of  Appius.  It 
was  also  called  the  "  queen  of  roads  "  because  it  was 
so  well  built.  Parts  of  it  are  still  in  existence.  The 
Romans  had  good  roads  as  well  as  good  aqueducts. 
They  were  the  best  road -builders  in  the  world. 


106  FAMOUS   MEN   OF   ROME 

While  he  was  censor  Appius  Claudius  very  much 
improved  Rome.  He  was  called  "the  greatest  of 
his  countrymen  in  the  works  of  peace."  Even  after 
he  retired  from  office  he  had  great  influence  in 
public  affairs.  His  advice  was  asked  by  both  ple- 
beians and  nobles. 

Once  during  the  first  war  which  the  Romans  had 
'  with  the  Greeks  the  advice  of  Appius  was  of  great 
benefit  to  Rome.  At  that  time  there  were  many 
Greek  settlements  in  the  south  of  Italy.  One  of 
the  Greek  towns  was  called  Ta-ren'tum.  It  was 
built  close  to  the  sea  and  had  a  very  good  harbor. 

Many  of  the  people  of  this  town  were  well  edu- 
cated. In  those  days  the  Greeks  were  mostly  an 
educated  people.  They  were  fond  of  learning  and 
of  art.  They  called  the  Romans  barbarians  and 
were  not  friendly  to  them. 

Once  when  a  Roman  fleet  entered  the  bay  of 
Tarentum,  the  people  of  the  town  attacked  it  and 
after  taking  ^ve  of  the  ships  put  the  crews  to 
death.  When  the  news  of  this  outrage  reached 
Rome  the  Senate  sent  ambassadors  to  demand  satis- 
faction. One  of  the  ambassadors  was  a  man  named 
Lu'ci-us  Pos-thu'mi-us.  When  they  arrived  at  Ta- 
rentum  they  were  met  by  a  noisy  crowd  of  people 
of  the  town,  who  made  fun  of  their  dress. 
("^The  Romans  wore  an  outer  dress  called  a  toga. 


APPIUS   CLAUDIUS   C^CUS 


107 


It  was  a  large  white  woollen  cloth,  in  the  shape  of 
a  half  circle,  four  or  five  yards  long  and  of  nearly 
the  same  width.  In  putting  on  this  garment  they 
doubled  it  lengthwise,  then  passed  one  end  over  the 
left  shoulder  and  under  the  opposite  arm  and  again 
over  the  left  shoulder,  the  other  end  reaching  nearly 
to  the  ground  in  front.  The  Tarentines  laughed  at 
the  toga  of  the  Roman  ambassa- 
dors. They  said  it  was  a  dress  fit 
only  for  savages.-;^ 

In  a  short  time  the  ambassadors 
were  taken  to  the  public  theatre, 
where  the  people  had  assembled  to 
hear  the  message  from  Rome.  Pos- 
thumius  spoke  to  them  in  Greek, 
but  as  this  was  not  his  own  lan- 
guage he  pronounced  many  of  the 
words  in  a  peculiar  way,  and  the 
Tarentines  laughed.  The  Roman  went  on,  however, 
in  a  dignified  manner  and  finished  his  speech  as  if 
he  had  not  noticed  the  insult. 

Just  then  a  Tarentine  moved  forward  to  the  place 
where  Posthumius  stood  and  threw  some  dirt  on  his 
white  toga.  The  ambassador  held  up  the  soiled  gar- 
ment with  his  hand  and  said  that  Tarentum  would 
be  made  to  suffer  for  the  outrage.  Then  the  thea- 
tre rang  with  laughter  and  offensive  cries. 


ROMAN   WITH   TOGA 


108  FAMOUS   MEN    OF   ROME 

"Laugli  on,"  said  Posthumius,  "you  may  laugh 
now  but  you  stall  weep  hereafter.  The  stain  on 
this  toga  shall  be  Avashed  out  in  your  blood  ! " 

Then  the  ambassadors  left  the  theatre  and  at  once 
set  out  for  Rome.  When  they  appeared  before  the 
Senate  Posthumius  showed  the  stain  on  his  toga 
as  proof  of  the  insult  offered  to  Rome  by  the 
Tarentines.  The  Senate  at  once  declared  war  on 
Tarentum  and  sent  a  powerful  army  to  attack  it. 


II 


At  this  time  the  Tarentines  had  no  general  they 
thought  would  be  able  to  iight  the  Romans.  So 
they  sent  across  the  sea  to  E-pi'rus,  in  Greece,  for 
the  king  of  that  country  to  come  and  help  them. 
The  name  of  this  king  Avas  Pyr'rhus.  He  was  a 
great  soldier  and  commander  and  was  nearly  always 
engaged  in  war.  He  consented  to  help  the  Taren- 
tines and  crossed  over  to  Italy  with  a  great  army  in 
which  there  was  a  number  of  fighting  elephants. 

When  Pyrrhus  entered  Tarentum  he  made  him- 
self master  of  the  city.  The  Tarentines  were  very 
fond  of  plays  and  amusements  of  all  kinds.  Pyr- 
rhus closed  the  theatres,  stopped  all  the  amusements 
and  made  the  people  drill  as  soldiers  all  day  long. 

As  soon  as  he  was  ready  to  fight  he  marched  out 


APPIUS   CLAUDIUS    C^CUS 


109 


witli  his  army  of  Greeks  and  Tarentines  against  the 
Romans,  and  there  was  a  great  battle  near  the  city 
of  Her'a-cle'a.  Both  sides  fought  well  for  hours, 
but  the  Greeks  at  last  began  to  fall  back.  They 
could  not  stand 
against  the  steady, 
fierce  attacks  made  by 
the  Romans. 

Then  Pyrrhus 
brought  his  elephants 
upon  the  field.  He 
had  seventy  of  them, 
and  they  were  thor- 
oughly trained  to 
fight.  They  would 
run  into  the  ranks  of 
the  enemy,  knock  the 
soldiers  down  and 
trample  them  to  death, 
or  lay  hold  of  them 
with  their  trunks  and  throw  them  high  into  the  air. 

As  the  elephants  stood  in  line  waiting  for  the  or- 
der to  charge,  the  Romans  looked  at  them  with  won- 
der and  fear.  They  knew  nothing  about  elephants, 
for  they  had  never  seen  any  before.  And  when  the 
huge  beasts  came  charging  furiously  across  the  field, 
making  sti'ange  noises,  many  of  the  Roman  soldiers 


WKkJI^^tP 

i 

% 

^HUhm^^^^^^H"  '^^Jc 

^^fMM 

Pt'f 

ELEPHANTS  OF  PYRRHUS 


110  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

were  terribly  frightened  and  began  to  run  away. 
The  elephants  killed  hundreds  of  them,  and  in  a 
few  minutes  the  Roman  army  was  put  to  flight. 

It  was  saved  from  entire  destruction  by  only  one 
thing.  A  Roman  soldier  was  brave  enough  to  rush 
at  an  elephant  while  it  was  charging  and  cut  off  a 
part  of  its  trunk  with  his  sword.  The  animal,  wild 
with  pain,  turned  and  ran  back  to  the  Greek  lines, 
trampling  down  the  soldiers  and  causing  a  great 
deal  of  confusion.  In  the  excitement  the  Romans 
managed  to  escape  across  a  river  to  a  friendly  city 
where  they  were  safe. 

Pyrrhus  won  the  victory,  but  he  lost  thousands 
of  men.  When  he  saw  the  great  number  of  his 
soldiers  that  lay  dead  on  the  field,  he  exclaimed : 

"  A  few  more  such  victories  and  I  must  return  to 
Epirus  alone ! " 


in 


Shortly  after  the  battle  Pyrrhus  sent  his  friend 
and  favorite  minister,  Cin'e-as,  to  Rome  to  offer 
terms  of  peace  to  the  Senate.  Cineas  was  a  very 
eloquent  man.  Often  when  Pyrrhus  could  not  con- 
quer people  in  battle,  Cineas  by  his  clever  speeches 
induced  them  to  submit  to  the  king  and  be  his 
friends.     This  was  why  the    Greeks   used   to  say, 


APPIUS   CLAUDIUS   C^CUS  HI 

"The  tongue  of  Cineas  wins  more  cities  than  the 
sword  of  Pyrrhus." 

Cineas  proposed  to  the  Roman  Senate  that  the 
Romans  should  not  make  war  any  longer  on  the 
Tarentines,  nor  on  any  of  the  Italian  tribes  that 
had  helped  them,  and  that  all  the  lands  Rome  had 
taken  from  these  tribes  in  past  years  should  be 
given  back.  If  the  Romans  would  agree  to  these 
terms,    then  Pyrrhus  would   be   their   true  friend. 

The  terms  were  not  good  for  Rome,  but  Cineas 
was  so  smooth-spoken  and  so  pleasant  in  proposing 
them  that  many  of  the  senators  were  inclined  to 
accept  them.  One  day  while  they  were  discussing 
the  matter  in  the  Senate  a  thrilling  scene  occurred. 

Appius  Claudius  was  still  living  in  Rome.  He 
was  very  old  and  had  become  blind.  For  this 
reason  he  got  the  name  Cce'cus,  a  word  which  is 
Latin  for  hlind.  But  his  mind  was  remarkably 
clear,  and  he  had  not  lost  interest  in  public  affairs. 
"When  he  heard  that  the  Senate  was  going  to  accept 
the  terms  offered  by  Pyrrhus  he  rose  from  his  bed 
declaring  that  he  would  go  and  speak  against  the 
proposal. 

So  he  was  carried  by  his  slaves  to  the  Senate 
house,  and  his  sons  led  the  aged  man  to  his  seat. 
He  began  his  speech  amidst  the  deepest  silence. 
His   youth  seemed   to   come   back  to  him.     Once 


F "  " 

1 

BBBIL  .    ,.  ifJ^^HMBI 

\'i" 

^*«^^'^H%,' 

L         *'^^^^^ftlR 

■^■r    j^  ,^M^ 

•'^'^gr>  Z*^^     ^^B 

m^a^jl^^m 

1  > 

APPIUS  CLAUDIUS  C^OUS  113 

more  lie  was  the  bold  censor  of  thirty  years  before. 
In  fiery  words  he  spoke  against  the  plan  for  peace, 
saying  it  would  be  base  and  cowardly  to  yield  to 
the  Greek  king. 

"  Let  us  fight  on,"  he  said,  "  as  long  as  we  have 
soldiers.  Shall  we  submit  to  this  Greek  invader 
merely  because  we  have  lost  one  battle  ?  Never  ! 
Never !  I  say.  Better  to  lose  all  that  we  have  than 
to  disgrace  ourselves  by  submitting ! " 

The  patriotic  old  man  went  on  speaking  in  this 
way  until  his  strength  failed  him  and  he  sank 
exhausted  into  his  seat.  His  speech  had  so  much 
effect  on  the  senators  that  they  immediately  voted 
against  the  proposal  of  Pyrrhus  and  ordered  Cineas 
to  depart  from  Rome. 

Then  the  war  was  carried  on  vigorously.  A 
great  battle  was  fought  at  As'cu-lum,  and  again  the 
Romans  were  defeated  by  the  Greeks.  But  they 
were  not  discourao^ed.  The  Consul  Cu'ri-us  Den- 
ta'tus  fought  another  battle  against  Pyrrhus  at 
Ben'e-ven'tum,  and  won  a  glorious  victory.  The 
Greeks  Vv^ere  utterly  defeated,  and  Pyrrhus  soon 
afterwards  left  Italy  and  returned  to  his  own 
country; 

Then   the   Romans  speedily   took    possession  of 

Tarentum  and  made  its  people  pay  well  for  their 

insult  to  the  Roman  ambassadors. 
8 


REGULUS 


The  next  great  war  tlie  Komans  engaged  in  was 
witti  Carthage.  It  was  about  the  possession  of  the 
island  of  Sicily,  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  It  be- 
gan not  long  after  Pyrrhus  left  Italy  and  was  the 
first  of  three  wars  called  the  Pu'nic  Wars.  Punic 
means  Phoe-ni'ci-an  and  the  people  who  founded 
Carthage  came  from  Phoe-ni'ci-a,  so  Carthage  was 
called  a  Punic  or  Pha3nician  colony. 

When  the  first  Punic  War  began  both  Rome  and 
Carthage  were  very  rich  and  powerful.  Rome  had 
great  armies  and  great  generals.  Its  common  sol- 
diers, too,  were  remarkably  brave  and  patriotic. 
It  was  very  successful  in  its  wars.  Before  it  began 
to  fight  Carthage  it  had  conquered  nearly  all  Italy. 

Cathage,  also,  had  fine  armies,  but  its  greatest 
strength  was  in  its  navy.  No  other  country  in  the 
world  at  that  time  had  so  many  ships  of  war  and 
trading  ships.  The  ships  of  the  Carthaginians  went 
everywhere  in  the  Mediterranean.     Some  of   them 


REGULUS  116 

even  went  past  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  as  the  rocky 
capes  at  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar  were  then  called, 
and  sailed  for  some  distance  on  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

The  Carthaginian  ships  were  small,  but  they  were 
very  strong.  The  warships  were  built  to  carry  a 
good  many  soldiers,  as  well  as  sailors  and  oarsmen. 
They  had  great  rounded  iron  prows,  which  could 
do  much  damage  to  an  enemy's  ships  when  run  up 
against  them.  Each  ship  had  a  mast  and  large 
sail,  but  it  was  also  rowed  with  oars  by  many  oars- 
men who  sat  on  long  benches,  placed  one  above  the 
other.  With  the  sail  and  the  oars  the  ship  could  be 
made  to  go  very  fast  through  the  water. 

Carthage  was  in  North  Africa,  in  the  country 
now  called  Tunis.  It  stood  at  the  head  of  a  beauti- 
ful bay  of  the  Mediterranean.  It  was  a  large  and 
handsome  city  and  had  a  great  commerce. 


n 


MAiS^Y  years  before  the  beginning  of  the  first 
Punic  War  Carthage  conquered  a  great  part  of 
Sicily  and  made  it  a  Carthaginian  colony.  But  the 
Komans  wanted  the  island,  and  so  under  the  pre- 
tence of  protecting  an  Italian  tribe  that  had  settled 
there  they  sent  an  army  into  Sicily.  This  was  how 
the  first  Punic  War  began. 


116  FAMOUS  MEN   OF  ROME 

Both  Rome  and  Carthage  fought  fiercely,  and  for 
a  long  time  neither  had  much  advantage  over  the 
other.  At  first  the  Romans  had  no  warships.  Up 
to  that  time  they  did  not  need  any,  for  all  their 
fighting  was  on  land.  But  when  they  began  war 
with  the  Carthaginians  they  found  that  they  must 
have  ships  to  carry  their  soldiers  to  Sicily  and  to 
fight  the  Carthaginians  at  sea.  So  the  Romans  set 
to  work  to  build  ships  and  to  train  men  to  row 
them,  and  in  a  short  time  tliey  had  a  great  navy. 

In  the  ninth  year  of  the  war  the  armies  and  fleets 
of  Rome  were  2)ut  under  the  command  of  a  general 
named  Marcus  A-til'i-us  Reg'u-lus.  He  was  a  great 
hero  and  patriot.  He  had  been  a  general  before  the 
Punic  War  and  had  often  led  the  Romans  to  victory. 
After  years  of  good  service,  fighting  and  winning 
battles  for  his  country,  he  w^ent  to  live  on  his  little 
farm  and,  like  Cincinnatus,  he  cultivated  it  with  his 
own  hands.  A  story  is  told  of  him  wliich  well 
illustrates  ancient  Roman  honor  and  patriotism. 

Until  Regulus  took  command  the  Punic  War  was 
carried  on  only  in  Sicily  and  on  the  Mediterranean. 
But  he  thought  that  Rome  should  fight  the  Cartha- 
ginians in  their  own  country,  and  so  he  organized 
an  immense  army  and  navy  to  invade  Carthage.  He 
had  three  hundred  and  thirty  warships  of  the 
largest  size  and  about  sixty  thousand  soldiers. 


REGULUS 


117 


111  tliose  times,  in  fights  at  sea,  they  had  an  engine 
called  a  boarding  bridge.  One  end  of  it  was  fixed 
to  the  deck  of  the  ship.  The  other  end,  which  was 
free,  could  be  swung  round  and  on  to  an  enemy's 
ship,  and  it  had  a  heavy  iron  spike  underneath,  so 
that  when  it  fell  on  the  deck  it  would  sink  into  it 


BOARDING   BRIDGE 


and  thus  hold  the  enemy's  vessel  for  the  attacking 
party  to  board  it. 

When  everything  was  ready  Regulus  set  sail  for 
Africa.  Soon  after  starting  he  met  a  large  Cartha- 
ginian fleet,  and  in  a  short  battle  he  destroyed  it. 
Then  he  sailed  on  and  after  landing  in  Africa  be- 
gan a  march  towards  Carthage.  On  his  way  he 
captured  several  towns,  and  he  met  and  defeated  a 


118  FAMOUS  MEN   OF  ROME 

Carthaginian  army.  He  then  continued  his  march 
until  he  met  another  army  of  Carthaginians.  This 
army  was  commanded  by  Xan-thip'pus,  a  famous 
general  of  Sparta,  in  Greece,  who  happened  to  be  in 
Carthage  at  that  time.  In  the  battle  that  followed 
the  Eomans  were  defeated,  and  Regulus  was  made 
prisoner  and  taken  off  to  Carthage. 

m 

But  the  Romans  had  other  generals  and  other 
armies,  and  they  carried  on  the  war  and  defeated 
the  Carthaginians  in  many  battles. 

At  last  the  Carthaginians  thought  it  better  to  try 
to  make  peace,  and  so  they  sent  ambassadors  to 
Rome  to  propose  that  the  war  should  be  stopped  on 
certain  terms,  which  they  were  ready  to  offer.  They 
sent  Regulus  with  the  ambassadors,  but  they  made 
him  swear  that  he  would  return  to  Carthas^e  if  the 
Roman  Senate  should  refuse  to  agree  to  their  terms. 
They  thought  that  in  order  to  gain  his  own  freedom 
Regulus  would  try  to  get  the  Senate  to  accept  their 
proposals.  Regulus  agreed  to  go  and  made  the 
promise  required. 

"I  give  you  my  word  of  honor,"  said  he,  "that  I 
will  return  if  your  terms  are  not  accepted." 

Then  he  set  out  for  Rome  with  the  ambassadors. 


REGULUS  119 

As  he  approached  the  gates  of  the  city,  thou- 
sands of  people  came  forth  to  welcome  him  and  to 
escort  him  through  the  streets.  But  he  refused  to 
enter. 

" I  cannot  enter  Kome,"  said  he .  "I  am  no  longer 
a  Roman  officer,  but  a  prisoner  of  Carthage.  Do  not 
urge  me  to  enter  the  gates.  I  am  not  even  worth 
exchanging  for  a  Carthaginian  prisoner." 

The  people,  however,  insisted  that  he  should  enter 
the  city,  and  so  amid  shouts  and  cheers  he  was 
escorted  to  the  Senate  house. 

In  a  little  while  the  Carthaginian  ambassadors 
presented  their  proposals,  and  the  Senate  began  to 
consider  them.  After  some  discussion  Kegulus  was 
asked  to  give  his  opinion  whether  the  terms  ought 
to  be  accepted  or  not. 

Eegulus  at  first  was  unwilling  to  speak  in  the 
Senate.  He  said  that  by  becoming  a  prisoner  he 
had  lost  the  honor  of  being  a  senator. 

" I  am  no  longer  a  Roman  senator,"  said  he .  "I 
am  a  prisoner  of  Carthage." 

The  Senate,  however,  insisted  that  he  should 
speak.  Then  Regulus  said  that  the  Senate  ought 
not  to  accept  the  terms  of  peace  offered  by  Carthage. 
He  thought  that  they  were  not  good,  terms  for 
Rome,  and  he  advised  the  Senate  not  to  agree  to 
them. 


120 


FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 


But  the  Senate  was  inclined  to  accept  the  terms 
for  the  sake  of  Regains  himself.  If  peace  were  not 
made  he  would  have  to  go  back  and  remain  a 
prisoner  in  Carthage,  or  perhaps  he  would  be  put 
to  death.     Therefore  the  Senate  was  for  agreeing 


liEGULUS  DEPARTING  FOll  CARTHAGE 


JUaccari 


to  the  Carthaginian  terms.  But  Regulus  again 
spoke  strongly  against  them,  and  at  last  the  Senate 
decided  to  reject  the  Carthaginian  proposals. 


IV 


Eegxjlus  now  prepared  to  return  to  Carthage, 
but  his  family  and  friends   clung  to  him,  saying: 
'^  You  must  not  go  !     You  must  not  go  ! " 


REGULUS  121 

To  all  their  appeals  lie  made  but  one  answer: 

"I  have  given  my  word  of  honor  to  return,  and  I 
cannot  break  it." 

So  Regulus  returned  to  Cartbage  witb  the  ambas- 
sadors. When  the  people  of  that  city  heard  that 
by  his  advice  their  terms  had  been  rejected  they 
were  very  angry.  They  had  wished  very  much  to 
make  peace  with  Rome,  for  the  long  war  had  cost 
them  a  great  many  lives  and  a  great  deal  of  money, 
and  they  wanted  to  stop  it.  Therefore  they  were 
enraged  against  Regulus  and  they  put  him  to  death 
in  a  very  cruel  way. 

The  war  between  Rome  and  Carthage  continued 
for  some  years  more,  but  at  last  the  Cartha- 
ginians were  defeated  in  a  great  sea  battle  near 
the  coast  of  Sicily.  They  were  then  obliged  to 
give  up  Sicily  and  pay  a  large  sum  of  money  to , 
the  Romans  as  a  fine.  This  was  the  end  of  the  first 
Punic  War  (241  b.c). 


SCIPIO  APRIOANUS 


But  peace  did  not  last  long  between  Rome  and 
Carthage.  Some  years  after  the  end  of  the  first 
Punic  War  the  Carthaginians  attacked  and  took 
possession  of  a  town  in  Spain,  the  people  of  which 
were  friends  and  allies  of  Rome.  This  caused  the 
second  Punic  War,  which  began  b.c.  218. 

One  of  the  great  soldiers  of  this  war  was  Pub'li-us 
Cornelius  Scip'i-o.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he 
was  called  Scipio  Af-ri-ca'nus,  on  account  of  the 
great  victories  which  he  won  in  Africa. 

Scipio  was  a  brave  soldier  from  his  youth.  When 
only  seventeen  years  old  he  fought  in  a  battle  and 
saved  his  father's  life.  He  was  always  gallant  and 
heroic  in  war,  so  he  soon  became  noted  in  the 
Roman  army  and  rose  to  high  rank.  And  although 
he  was  a  member  of  a  noble  family,  he  was  well 
liked  by  the  plebeians  and  they  elected  him  "  aedile." 

The  aediles  were  magistrates  or  judges.  They  were 
also  superintendents  of  public  buildings  and  of  the 


SCIPIO  AFRICANU8  123 

games  and  shows  of  whicli  the  Roman  people  were 
so  fond. 

When  Scipio  was  about  twenty-seven  years  of  age, 
he  was  appointed  to  command  the  Roman  army  that 
was  fighting  the  Carthaginians  in  Spain.  Carthage 
had  conquered  some  parts  of  Spain,  and  Rome  had 
conquered  other  parts,  and  the  two  nations  were 
often  at  war  about  places  in  that  country. 

When  Scipio  went  to  Spain  many  of  the  people 
there  were  against  him,  but  they  soon  became  his 
friends.  Whenever  he  took  a  city  he  allowed  the 
chiefs  who  were  captured  to  go  free,  and  he  gave 
presents  to  many  of  them.  He  always  showed  great 
respect  to  women  and  children  who  were  taken  pris- 
oners. In  those  times  it  was  the  cruel  custom  to 
make  slaves  of  women  who  were  found  in  towns 
that  had  been  taken  in  war.  But  Scipio  never 
did  this  in  Spain.  He  always  let  the  women  go 
free. 

One  day  a  beautiful  Spanish  girl  who  had  been 
taken  prisoner  was  brought  before  him.  She  seemed 
very  much  frightened,  but  Scipio  spoke  kindly  to  her 
and  told  her  that  no  one  should  harm  her.  While 
speaking  with  her  he  learned  that  a  young  man  who 
was  her  lover  had  also  been  taken  prisoner  by  the 
Roman  soldiers.  He  sent  for  the  young  man  and 
said  to  him : 


124:  FAMOUS  MEN   OF   ROME 

"  Take  your  sweetheart  and  go.  I  set  you  both 
free.  Go  and  be  happy  and  in  future  be  friends  of 
Rome." 

And  so  by  many  acts  of  kindness  Scipio  gained 
the  friendship  of  tl^e  Spaniards.  After  a  while  they 
began  to  join  the  Eomans  and  gave  them  great  help 
in  their  war  against  the  Carthaginians. 


n 


Wheist  his  services  were  no  longer  needed  in  Spain, 
Scipio  returned  to  Rome.  He  got  a  great  reception 
in  the  city.  There.was  a  grand  parade  in  his  honor. 
He  brought  home  an  immense  quantity  of  silver, 
which  he  obtained  from  the  rich  Spanish  mines 
and  from  the  cities  he  had  taken.  The  silver  was 
put  into  the  Roman  treasury  to  pay  the  expenses 
of  the  war. 

Soon  after  he  returned  from  Spain  Scipio  was 
elected  consul.  The  Carthaginian  general,  Han'ni- 
bal,  was  then  in  Italy  with  a  large  army.  This 
Hannibal  was  one  of  the  greatest  generals  of  ancient 
times.  When  he  was  but  nine  years  old  his  father, 
who  was  also  a  great  general,  made  him  take  an 
oath  that  he  would  hate  Rome  and  the  Romans 
forever.  Then  he  took  the  boy  with  him  to  Spain 
and  gave  him  a  thorough  training  as  a  soldier. 


SCIPIO   AFRICANUS  125 

When  his  father  died  Hannibal  became  comman- 
der of  the  Carthaginian  army  in  Spain.  He  was 
then  little  more  than  twenty-one  years  old.  He 
fought  well  in  Spain  for  some  time  and  was  well 
liked  by  his  soldiers.  Suddenly  he  resolved  to 
make  war  on  the  Romans  in  their  own  country 
and  to  go  by  land  to  Italy.  ^  So  he  got  ready  an 
immense  army  and  set  out  on  his  march.  In  pass- 
ing through  France  he  had  to  cross  the  broad  River 
Rhone.  This  was  not  easy  to  do,  for  there  was  no 
bridge.  He  got  his  men  over  in  boats,  but  he  had 
a  number  of  elephants  in  his  army  and  they  were 
too  big  and  heavy  to  be  taken  across  in  that  way. 
The  boats  were  small  and  the  elephants  were  afraid 
to  go  into  them.  Hannibal  therefore  got  rafts  or 
floats,  made  of  trunks  of  trees  tied  together,  and  in 
these  the  elephants  were  carried  over. 

After  crossing  the  Rhone  Hannibal  marched 
over  the  Alps  into  Italy.  He  and*  his  army  suf- 
fered many  hardships  in  making  their  way  over 
those  snow^covered  mountains.  He  had  often  to^ 
fight  fierce  tribes  that  came  to  oppose  him,  but  he 
defeated  them  all,  and  after  being  defeated  many 
of  them  joined  his  army  and  brought  him  pro- 
visions for  his  soldiers. 

Very  soon  Roman  armies  were  sent  against  Han- 
nibal, but  he  defeated  them  in  many  battles.     Once 


SCIPIO  AFRICANUS  127 

his  army  got  into  a  place  near  high  hills  where  he 
could  not  march  further  except  through  one  narrow 
pass  between  the  hills.  The  Roman  general,  Quint  us 
Fabius,  sent  four  thousand  of  his  troops  to  take 
possession  of  this  pass,  and  he  posted  the  rest  of 
his  army  on  the  hills  close  by. 

Hannibal  saw  that  he  was  in  a  trap,  but  he  found 
a  way  of  escaping.  He  caused  vine  branches  to  be 
tied  to  the  horns  of  a  large  number  of  the  oxen 
that  were  with  his  army.  Then  he  ordered  his 
men  to  set  the  branches  on  fire  in  the  middle  of 
the  night  and  to  drive  the  oxen  up  the  hills. 

As  soon  as  the  animals  felt  the  pain  they  rushed 
madly  about  and  set  fire  to  the  shrubs  and  bushes 
they  met  on  the  way.  The  Romans  at  the  pass 
thought  that  the  Carthaginians  were  escaping  by 
torchlight.  So  they  hastily  quit  their  posts  and 
hurried  towards  the  hills  to  help  their  comrades. 
Then  Hannibal,  seeing  the  pass  free,  marched  his 
army  out  and  so  escaped  from  the  trap. 

Quintus  Fabius  was  very  slow  and  cautious  in  his 
movements.  The  Romans  had  been  defeated  so 
often  that  he  thought  the  best  plan  was  to  harass 
Hannibal  in  every  possible  way,  but  not  to  venture 
to  fight  him  in  a  great  battle  until  he  should  be 
sure  of  winning.  For  this  reason  the  Romans  gave 
Fabius  the  name  of  Cunc4a'tor^  which  means  delayer, 


128 


FAMOUS  MEN"  OF  ROME 


and  so  tJie  j)li^n  of  extreme  delay  or  caution  in  any 
undei-taking  is  often  called  a  Fabian  policy. 

But  in  spite  of  the  caution  of  Fabius  Hannibal 
gained  many  great  victories.  His  greatest  victory 
was  at  the  battle  of  Can'nse,  in  the  south  of  Italy. 


\  &fii 

L_       ^1'    f^^Pi 

;^?^ 

UAIS.NIBALS    STKATAGEM 


Here  he  defeated  and  destroyed  a  Roman  army  of 
seventy  thousand  men.  And  for  several  years  after 
this  battle  Hannibal  remained  in  Italy  doing  the 
Romans  all  the  harm  he  could. 

At  last  Scipio  thought  it  was  time  to  follow  the 
plan  of  Regulus.     So  he  said  to  the  Senate: 

"We  have  acted  too  long  as  if  we  were  afraid  of 
Hannibal    and     Carthage.      We    defend    ourselves 


SCIPIO  AFRICANUS  129 

bravely  when  we  are  attacked,  and  so  far  we  have 
saved  Kome  from  destruction ;  but  we  do  not  make 
any  attacks  on  our  enemies.  We  certainly  ought  to 
do  this,  for  our  armies  are  strong  and  fully  ready  to 
meet  the  Carthaginians." 

Scipio  then  proposed  that  an  army  led  by  himself 
should  go  to  Africa  and  carry  on  war  there.  He 
believed  that  if  this  were  done  Hannibal  would 
have  to  go  to  Africa  to  defend  Carthage. 

Perhaps  on  account  of  what  had  happened  to 
Regulus,  the  Senate  did  not  like  Scipio's  plan. 
Nevertheless,  it  gave  him  permission  to  go  to  Africa, 
but  would  not  give  him  an  army.  Scipio  then 
raised  a  splendid  army  of  volunteers  and  sailed 
across  the  Mediterranean  Sea  to  Africa. 

in 

Scipio  tried  for  some  time  to  obtain  the  aid  of 
Sy'phax,  a  powerful  king  of  Nu-mid'i-a,  in  Africa. 
But  Syphax  decided  to  join  the  Carthaginians.  So 
Scipio  found  two  great  armies  ready  to  fight  him. 
One  was  the  army  of  Carthage,  with  thirty -three 
thousand  men,  commanded  by  Has'dru-bal  Gis'co, 
and  the  other  was  the  army  of  Numidia,  with  sixty 
thousand  men,  commanded  by  King  Syphax. 

But  Scipio  found  in  Africa  one  strong  friend,  and 
that  was  a  Numidian   prince   named   Mas'i-nis'sa 


130  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

This  prince  had  a  host  of  supporters  among  his 
countrymen  and  was  therefore  able  to  bring  a  large 
force  of  good  soldiers  to  the  aid  of  the  Romans.  He 
was  of  great  service  to  Scipio  in  many  ways. 

When  everything  was  ready  the  Roman  army, 
with  Masinissa's  force,  encamped  about  six  miles 
from  the  camps  of  the  enemy.  Scipio  sent  spies 
among  the  Carthaginians  and  the  soldiers  of  King 
Syphax,  and  from  them  he  learned  that  both  armies 
were  lodged  in  huts  made  of  stakes  and  covered 
with  reeds  and  dried  leaves.  He  resolved  to  set 
those  huts  on  fire. 

So  one  very  dark  night  the  Roman  army  left  its 
camp  and  marched  silently  to  the  plain  occupied  by 
the  enemy.  Then  a  division  of  the  Romans  went  to 
the  encampment  of  the  Numidians  and  a  soldier 
crept  cautiously  from  the  Roman  lines  and  set  one 
of  the  huts  on  fire.  The  fire  spread  rapidly,  and  in 
a  few  minutes  the  whole  camp  was  in  flames. 

The  Numidian  soldiers,  suddenly  awakened  by 
the  fire,  fled  from  the  burning  huts  w^ithout  their 
weapons  and  made  frantic  efforts  to  escape  from  the 
camp.  Hundreds  of  them  were  knocked  down  and 
trampled  to  death  in  the  rush  and  confusion ; 
hundreds  more  lost  their  lives  in  the  fire.  Those 
who  got  to  the  open  country  were  attacked  by  the 
Romans  and  killed.     The  ground  was  covered  with 


SCIPIO   AFRICANUS  131 

the  bodies  of  the  slain.  King  Syphax  and  a  few 
horsemen  managed  to  escape,  but  the  rest  of  the 
vast  Niimidian  army  was  destroyed. 

In  the  meantime  the  Carthaginians  had  been 
aroused  by  the  noise  in  the  camp  of  the  Numidians. 
They  thought  that  the  fire  had  been  caused  by  an 
accident,  and  some  of  them  ran  forward  to  assist  the 
Numidians.  But  the  greater  number  stood  in  a 
confused  throng,  without  their  arms,  outside  their 
camp,  looking  at  the  fire  with  terror. 

While  they  were  in  this  helpless  state  the 
Carthaginians  were  suddenly  attacked  by  the 
Romans  with  Scipio  at  their  head.  Many  were 
killed,  and  the  others  were  driven  back  into  their 
camp,  which  was  immediately  set  on  fire  in  a  num- 
ber of  places.  Then  there  was  a  frightful  scene. 
Thousands  of  Carthaginians,  struggling  to  escape 
the  fire,  were  slain  by  the  Eomans,  while  thousands 
more  perished  in  the  flames.  Hasdrubal  Gisco,  the 
commander,  and  some  of  his  officers  escaped,  but 
only  a  few  of  the  others.  In  less  than  an  hour  there, 
was  little  left  of  the  Carthaginian  army. 

IV 

Scipio  now  began  to  march  towards  the  great, 
rich  city  of  Carthage.  He  captured  a  number  of 
towns  and  a  great   deal   of  treasure.      In   a   few 


132  FAMOUS  MEN   OF   ROME 

weeks,  however,  the  Carthaginians  were  able  to 
form  another  army  of  thirty  thousand  men,  and 
then  they  came  boldly  forth  to  meet  Scipio. 

A  fierce  battle  followed.  The  Romans  were 
driven  back  for  a  time,  but  with  wonderful  courage 
they  charged  the  Carthaginians  again  and  again  and 
at  last  totally  defeated  them. 

The  Carthaginians  now  sent  a  message  to  Italy 
requesting  Hannibal  to  come  to  the  relief  of  his 
country.  The  renowned  general  did  not  want  to 
leave  Italy,  for  he  hoped  to  be  able  to  take  Rome ; 
but  he  thought  it  best  to  obey  the  call  of  Carthage, 
so  he  sailed  for  Africa  with  his  army. 

After  arriving  in  Africa  Hannibal  led  his  army 
to  a  wide  plain  near  Za'ma,  a  town  not  far  from 
Carthage.     Here  he  awaited  the  Romans. 

Hannibal  had  great  admiration  for  Scipio,  and  he 
desired  to  see  him  before  engaging  in  battle.  So  he 
sent  a  messenger  to  Scipio  requesting  an  interview. 
The  request  was  granted,  and  the  two  generals  met. 

They  greeted  each  other  cordially,  and  each 
complimented  the  other  on  his  victories  and  great- 
ness as  a  soldier.  Then  Hannibal  proposed  terms 
of  peace  to  Scipio. 

"We  will  give  Spain  and  the  islands  of  Sicily 
and  Sardinia  to  Rome.  Then  we  will  divide  the 
sea  with  you.    What  more  would  you  have  ?    Rome 


SCIPIO  AFRICANUS  133 

and  Cartilage  would  then  be  the  two  great  nations 
of  the  world." 

Scipio  thought  it  was  too  late  to  make  terms. 

"  We  must  fight  it  out,"  said  he,  "  until  one  side 
or  the  other  is  vanquished." 

The  generals  then  parted,  and  the  next  day  the 
two  armies  were  drawn  up  in  battle  array.  On 
each  side  there  were  about  thirty  thousand  men, 
but  Hannibal  had  a  herd  of  fighting  elephants. 

The  battle  was  long  and  severe.  Both  armies 
fought  heroically,  and  there  was  terrible  slaughter. 
But  Hannibal's  elephants  were  of  little  use  to  him, 
as  the  Eomans  frightened  them  by  blowing 
trumpets  and  hurling  balls  of  fire  at  them.  At  a 
moment  when  the  lines  of  the  Carthaginians  were 
breaking,  a  strong  force  of  Boman  horsemen  came 
up  suddenly  in  the  rear  and  overpowered  all  before 
it.  This  won  the  battle  for  the  Romans.  When 
Hannibal  saw  that  the  battle  was  lost  he  fled  from 
the  field  with  a  few  friends  (202  b.c). 

Scipio  was  now  master  of  Carthage.  He  com- 
pelled the  Carthaginians  to  pay  him  a  vast  amount 
in  gold  and  silver  and  to  give  up  some  of  their 
towns  and  lands.  He  also  compelled  them  to  de- 
stroy their  great  fleet  of  warships  and  to  promise 
not  to  make  war  in  future  upon  any  people  without 
the  permission  of  the  Bomans. 


134  FAMOUS   MEN   OF   ROME 

When  Scipio  returned  to  Rome  lie  entered  the  city 
at  the  head  of  a  grand  procession.  The  greatest  honors 
were  paid  to  him,  and  he  was  called  Scipio  Af  ricanus. 

Some  years  afterwards  Scipio  met  Hannibal  at 
the  court  of  the  king  of  Syria.  The  two  generals 
had  a  friendly  conversation  and  Scipio  asked  Han- 
nibal who  he  thought  was  the  greatest  general  that 
ever  lived.     Hannibal  answered  : 

"  Alexander  the  Great." 

"  Who  was  the  second  ? "  asked  Scipio. 

"Pyrrhus,"  replied  Hannibal. 

"Who  the  third?" 

"  Myself,"  answered  Hannibal. 

"  But  what  would  you  have  said,"  asked  Scipio, 
"  if  you  had  conquered  me  ?  " 

"I  should  then  have  said,"  replied  Hannibal,/ 
"  that  I  was  greater  than  Alexander,  greater  than 
Pyrrhus,  and  greater  than  all  otjier  generals." 


CATO  THE  CENSOR 


On  a  farm  near  Tusculum,  a  little  town  about  fif- 
teen miles  from  Rome,  there  once  lived  a  boy  named 
Mar'cus  Por'ci-us  Ca'to.  His  father  and  his  grand- 
father before  him  had  been  farmers  and  he,  too, 
expected  to  be  one. 

When  he  was  about  seventeen  Hannibal's  army- 
crossed  the  Alps  into  Italy,  and  young  Cato  be- 
'came  a  Roman  soldier.  When  the  war  ended  the 
country  boy  had  become  a  man,  stern  and  forceful. 
He  attracted  the  attention  of  a  neighbor,  a  rich  man, 
who  persuaded  him  to  go  to  Rome  and  practice  law. 

In  time  he  Avas  elected  to  office,  and  he  did  his 
duty  so  well  that  he  rose  higher  and  higher,  until 
he  became  one  of  the  consuls.  That  same  year  a 
rebellion  arose  in  Spain,  and  Cato  led  an  army 
against  the  Spaniards.  It  is  said  that  in  four 
hundred  days  he  captured  four  hundred  villages. 
On  his  return  to  Rome  he  was  honored  with  a 
triumph. 


136         .  FAMOUS  ]MEN   OF   ROME 

Shortly  after  this  he  was  sent  to  Greece,  where 
An-ti'o-ehus  was  attacking  Greek  cities  that  were 
friendly  to  Rome.  He  defeated  Antiochus  in  the 
Pass  of  Thermopylae  and  won  great  fame  as  a 
soldier. 

Cato  was  a  very  hard  man;  hard  on  himself, 
hard  on  his  friends.  And  althous^h  he  was  rich  and 
held  office  in  a  great  city,  he  lived  a  hard  life, 
taking  no  pleasures  and  saving  his  money.  He  ate 
the  plainest  food  and  drank  the  same  cheap  wine 
that  he  bought  for  his  slaves. 

He  thought  that  the  luxury  and  extravagance  of 
the  rich  were  taking  away  the  strength  of  Rome.  In 
order  to  put  a  stop  to  these  things  Cato  asked  the 
people  of  Rome  to  elect  him  censor.  The  patricians 
opposed  him  bitterly,  but  he  was  elected  by  a  large 
majority.  One  of  the  first  things  he  did  was  to 
expel  from  the  senate  several  senators  who  were 
leading  improper  lives.  He  had  a  heavy  tax  put  on 
carriages  so  as  to  compel  people  to  walk.  He  also 
placed  a  tax  on  jewels,  handsome  dresses,  carpets, 
and  fine  furniture.  So  well  did  he  do  his  work 
that  he  is  always  known  in  history  as  Cato  the 
Censor,  just  as  if  he  were  the  only  man  who 
ever  held  the  office.  A  statue  erected  in  his  honor 
says  nothing  about  his  victories  in  Spain  or  at 
Thermopylae,  but    only  that,   "When    the   Roman 


CATO   THE   CENSOR  137 

Republic   was    degenerating,   Cato   restored   it   by 
strict  discipline," 

n 

In  tbe  later  years  of  his  life  Cato  was  sent  to 
Carthage  to  look  into  a  certain  matter  for  Rome. 
The  trouble  was  this :  You  will  remember  that 
Carthage  had  agreed  to  make  war  upon  no  nation 
without  the  consent  of  the  Roman  Senate.  A  few 
years  later,  Masinissa,  who  was  a  friend  of  Rome, 
attacked  the  Carthaginians,  and  they  appealed  to 
Rome  for  protection.  This  was  refused,  and  the 
people  of  Carthage  took  up  arms  to  defend  them- 
selves against  Masinissa. 

Cato  was  sent  to  Carthage  to  find  out  who  was 
to  blame.  When  he  arrived  in  the  city  he  was  sur- 
prised to  find  it  large  and  strong  and  flourishing. 
Only  twenty-six  years  had  passed  since  Scipio  Afri- 
can us  had  conquered  Carthage,  and  yet  Cato  saw 
crowds  of  young  men  on  the  street,  stacks  of  arms 
in  the  arsenals,  and  a  forest  of  masts  in  the  harbor. 
The  city  itself  was  rich  and  prosperous. 

Cato  returned  to  Rome  and  warned  his  country- 
men that  Carthage  must  be  destroyed.  From  that 
time  forward  whenever  he  made  a  speech  in  the 
senate,  no  matter  upon  what  subject,  he  always 
ended  it  by  saying,  '^  And  my  opinion  is  that  Car- 


138  FAMOUS  MEN   OF   ROME 

thage  must  be  destroyed."  In  time,  tlie  words  of 
Cato  had  their  effect,  and  war  was  declared  against 
Carthage. 

The  troops  had  already  embarked  when  envoys 
from  Carthage  reached  Rome  and  offered  to  do 
whatever  might  be  asked.  The  Roman  Senate  pro- 
mised that  the  laws  and  liberties  of  Carthage  should 
not  be  touched,  but  demanded  hostages.  So  three 
hundred  children  of  the  leadins:  families  of  Carthao:e 
were  sent  to  Rome.  When  the  Roman  army  reached 
Carthage  the  consuls  insisted  that  the  Carthaginians 
should  give  up  their  arms.  This  was  done  and  the 
Carthaginians  asked  if  the  Romans  required  any- 
thing more. 

Then  one  of  the  consuls  said,  "  Your  city  must 
be  destroyed,  and  you  must  move  ten  miles  inland 
from  the  sea."  The  Carthaginians  now  saw  that 
they  had  been  deceived.  They  closed  their  gates 
and  determined  to  defend  themselves  to  the  last. 
They  asked  an  armistice  of  thirty  days,  so  that  an 
embassy  might  go  to  Rome.  It  was  granted,  and 
thus  a  month  of  time  was  gained.  During  this  time 
men,  women,  and  children  went  to  work  to  make 
arms  to  defend  their  homes.  The  women  even  cut 
off  their  hair  to  furnish  strings  for  the  bows  of  the 
war  machines  with  which  stones  were  hurled  at  the 
enemy. 


140  FAMOIJS   MEN   OF   ROME 

The  embassy  failed  in  its  mission  to  Rome  and  the 
siege  of  Carthage  began.     It  lasted  three  years. 

The  son  of  Paulus  ^-miri-us  had  been  adopted 
by  the  son  of  Scipio  Africanus  and  had  taken  the 
name  Scipio.  He  was  sent  to  Carthage  and  about  a 
year  after  his  arrival  forced  an  entrance  into  the  city 
and  captured  it  (146  B.C.).  The  walls  were  torn 
down  and  the  buildings  set  on  fire.  Cato  who  was 
so  largely  responsible  for  the  war  did  not  live  to 
see  its  end.  He  died  almost  two  years  before  the 
city  was  destroyed. 

The  Senate  honored  Scipio  with  the  title  Africanus, 
which  the  older  conqueror  of  Carthage  had  borne. 

The  young  Scipio  won  fame  not  only  in  Africa 
but  also  in  Spain,  where  he  was  sent  against  the 
Numantians.  These  brave  people  had  defeated  two 
Roman  armies,  but  Scipio  soon  succeeded  in  shut- 
ting them  within  the  walls  of  Numantia.  Around 
its  walls  he  built  walls  of  his  own  behind  which  his ' 
soidiers  were  safe  from  attack.  Food  soon  became 
scarce  in  Numantia.  At  the  end  of  fifteen  months 
the  citizens  were  starving.  They  were  willing  to 
lose  their  lives,  but  Scipio  stayed  behind  his  own 
wails  and  refused  to  fight.  Rather  than  trust  to  the 
mercy  of  Rome  the  Numantians  killed  themselves. 

In  time  all  Spain  was  forced  to  submit  and  be- 
come a  Roman  province. 


THE   GRACCHI 

I 

Betweeis"  the  second  and  third  Punic  wars  there 
lived  in  Rome  two  brothers  named  Ti-be'ri-us  and 
Cains  Grac'chus,  commonly  called  the  Gracchi. 
They  were  very  good  men  and  great  friends  of  the 
common  people. 

The  mother  of  the  Gracchi  was  Cor-ne'li-a,  a 
daughter  of  Scipio  Africanus.  She  was  an  excel- 
lent woman,  and  she  was  very  proud  of  her  two 
sons.  She  taught  them  to  be  brave  and  manly  and 
always  to  stand  up  for  the  people. 

One  day  a  rich  lady,  while  on  a  visit  to  Cornelia, 
showed  her  some  magnificent  jewels.  When  they 
had  looked  them  over  the  lady  said : 

"  These  are  my  Jewels ;  now  let  me  see  yours." 

Just  at  that  moment  Tiberius  and  Caius,  who 
were  then  boys,  came  into  the  room.  As  soon  as 
she  saw  them  Cornelia  called  them  to  her  and,  put- 
ting her  arms  around  them,  said : 

■ '  These  are  my  jewels." 


THE   GRACCHI  143 

When  Tiberius  and  Cains  grew  up  to  be  men  they 
took  the  side  of  the  people  in  a  quarrel  that  had 
been  going  on  for  a  long  time  between  the  plebeians 
and  the  nobles.  The  quarrel  was  about  land. 
Whenever  the  Romans  conquered  a  country  in  war 
they  took  possession  of  a  portion  of  the  land  of  the 
conquered  country.  Such  land  was  called  public 
land,  and  for  many  years  after  the  founding  of  the 
city  the  custom  of  dividing  parts  of  the  public  lands 
among  all  the  citizens  was  strictly  observed.     . 

But  in  later  times  this  custom  was  changed. 
Instead  of  part  of  the  public  lands  being  divided 
among  all  the  citizens,  it  was  divided  among  only 
the  nobles,  and  the  plebeians  got  none  at  all.  The 
lands  were  tilled  by  slaves,  and  all  that  was  raised 
went  to  the  nobles.  So  the  poor  soldiers  who  won 
the  lands  by  hard  fighting  were  without  farms  to 
till,  and  some  of  them  even  without  homes.  They 
continually  demanded  that  the  old  law,  for  a  fair 
division  of  the  lands  among  all  the  citizens,  should 
be  carried  out.     The  nobles  laughed  at  the  demand. 

But  Tiberius  Gracchus  came  forward  boldly  as 
the  champion  of  the  poor.  He  declared  that  the 
nobles  should  give  up  the  lands  they  had  unjustly 
taken,  and  that  the  people  should  have  their  fair 
share.  His  words  made  the  nobles  ver}  angry,  and 
they  became  his  bitter  enemies. 


THE  GRACCHI  145 


n 


But  tlie  people  honored  Tiberius  and  made  him 
one  of  their  tribunes.  The  tribunes  were  supposed 
to  look  after  the  people's  interests,  but  sometimes 
they  were  not  faithful  to  their  duty.  As  we  have 
already  said,  they  had  a  great  deal  of  power.  They 
could  sit  at  the  door  of  the  Koman  Senate,  and  when 
a  law  was  proposed  that  they  did  not  like  they 
could  say,  "  We  veto  it !  "  and  then  the  law  could 
not  be  passed. 

Whenever  the  tribunes  wanted  a  law  passed  they 
proposed  it  at  the  meeting  of  all  the  people  in  what 
was  called  the  Assembly  of  Tribes.  The  common 
people  had  a  great  deal  of  power  in  this  Assembly, 
and  any  law  j)roposed  by  the  tribune  was  generally 
passed.  Then  the  tribunes  had  the  power  to  com- 
pel the  consuls  to  carry  out  the  law. 
L  Not  long  after  Tiberius  Gracchus  became  tribune 
he  proposed  a  law  that  each  noble  might  have  five 
hundred  acres  of  the  public  land  for  his  own  use 
and  two  hundred  and  fifty  more  for  each  son,  and 
that  the  remainder  of  the  lands  should  be  equally 
divided  among  the  poor  citizens. 

This  law  was  passed,  and  then  the  nobles  had  to 
give  up  a  large  part  of  the  lands  they  had  seized. 
So  the  poor  citizens  got  good  farms. 


14G  FAMOUS  MEN   OF  ROME 


:  About  this  time  At'ta-lus,  tlie  king  of  Per'ga-mus, 
a  country  of  Asia,  died,  leaving  all  his  money  to  the 
Romans.  The  nobles  tried  to  get  this  money  for 
themselves,  but  Tiberius  had  it  divided  among  the 
poor  citizens. 

Of  course  this  made  the  nobles  still  more  angry 
with  Tiberius,  and  they  resolved  to  get  rid  of  him  if 
they  could.  So  on  election  day,  when  the  people 
were  voting  to  make  Tiberius  tribune  for  a  second 
term,  some  nobles  went  to  the  voting-place  and 
raised  a  disturbance.  But  the  friends  of  Tiberius 
drove  them  away.  Then  the  nobles  started  a  re- 
port that  Tiberius  was  trying  to  induce  the  people 
to  make  him  king.  ^ 

Afterwards  they  gathered  their  friends  and 
slaves  and  began  fighting  with  the  people.  No 
arms  were  used,  but  stones  were  thrown,  and  sticks, 
broken  benches,  and  other  things  hastily  caught  up, 
served  as  weapons.  There  was  a  dreadful  tumult 
for  R  while,  and  many  persons  were  killed. 

Tiberius  was  in  tlie  midst  of  his  friends  bravely 
defending  himself  against  an  attack  by  a  party  of 
nobles,  when  suddenly  he  stumbled  and  fell  to  the 
ground.  In  a  moment  the  nobles  rushed  upon  him. 
One  of  them  struck  him  on  the  head  with  a  piece  of 
wood  and  killed  him.  Then  they  took  his  body 
and  threw  it  into  the  Tiber. 


THE   GRACCHI  147 


m 


Tiberius  was  now  out  of  the  way,  and  the  nobles 
began  to  seize  the  lands  that  had  been  divided 
among  the  people.  But  Caius  Gracchus  suddenly 
appeared  in  Eome  and  declared  that  he  had  come 
to  take  his  brother's  place  as  the  friend  of  the 
people.  He  had  been  with  a  Eoman  army  in  Spain 
when  Tiberius  was  killed. 

The  people  now  elected  him  tribune  and  he  be- 
gan to  carry  out  his  brother's  plans.  For  this 
reason  the  nobles  hated  him  as  much  as  they  had 
hated  his  brother.  They  said  that  he  was  a  dan- 
gerous man  and  was  planning  to  make  himself  king. 
One  day  as  he  was  passing  through  the  Forum  a 
strange  man  said  to  him : 

"  I  hope  you  will  spare  the  Republic  !  " 

The  friends  of  Caius  were  angry  at  these  words, 
and  they  fell  on  the  man  and  killed  him. 

The  nobles  and  their  followers  then  armed  them- 
selves. The  plebeians  also  gathered  in  great  num- 
bers ready  for  a  fight.  Caius  was  asked  to  lead 
tliem,  but  refused.  He  did  not  want  them  to  fight 
with  the  nobles.  He  knew  that  the  nobles  would 
be  satisfied  with  his  own  death,  so  he  ordered  a  slave 
to  stab  him  to  the  heai*t.  The  order  was  obeyed, 
and  thus  perished  the  last  of  the  Gracchi  (121  B.C.)  J 


MARIUS 


I 


i  "At  the  time  of  the  death  of  Caius  Gracchus  there 
was  in  Rome  a  great  mau  named  Caius  Ma'ri-us. 
This  man  came  forward  and  said  to  the  people  that 
if  they  would  elect  him  tribune 
he  would  get  them  their  rights. 
The  people  elected  him  tri- 
bune and,  true  to  his  word,  he 
did  everything  he  could  to  im- 
prove their  condition.  He  was 
afterwards  elected  consul  seven 
times,  and  for  a  long  while  he 
was  the  greatest  man  in  Home.^ 
Marius  was  a  tall  and  very 
powerful  man  and  had  a  strong 
will.  When  he  said  he  would 
do  anything  he  would  do  it  in  spite  of  all  difficulties. 
He  was  a  very  great  soldier.  Many  people  thought 
him  the  best  of  the  Roman  generals. 

He  succeeded  in  a  war  against  Ju-gur'tha,  king  of 


MARIUS 


MAKTXJS  149 

Numidia,  after  other  generals  had  failed.  He  took 
many  cities  from  Jugurtha  and  at  last  captured  the 
king  himself  and  all  his  treasure. 

Jugurtha  was  brought  to  Rome  and  compelled  to 
walk  behind  the  chariot  of  Marius  in  a  grand  tri- 
umphal procession.  He  was  afterwards  put  into  a 
foul  dungeon  and  left  there  to  die. 

The  nobles  did  not  like  Marius.  He  was  the  son 
of  plebeian  parents  and  he  had  taken  the  side  of  the 
plebeians  against  the  nobles.  Therefore  the  nobles 
hated  him,  and  they  would  have  done  everything 
they  could  against  him,  only  that  they  needed  his 
help  to  protect  Home  from  veiy  dangerous  enemies. 

A  host  of  barbarian  people,  called  Cim'bri,  Teu'- 
to-nes,  and  Am-bro'nes,  had  left  their  homes  on  the 
shores  of  the  Baltic  Sea  and  invaded  the  southern 
lands.  They  were  strong,  fierce  men,  and  they  laid 
waste  every  country  they  passed  through.  They  de- 
feated several  Roman  armies  that  were  sent  against 
them.  Some  of  the  tribes  of  Hel-ve'ti-a  (the  coun- 
try now  called  Switzerland)  joined  them  and  one  of 
those  tribes  defeated  and  killed  a  Roman  consul 
and  made  his  army  pass  under  the  yoke. 

The  Romans  were,  therefore,  very  much  fright- 
ened. They  thought  that  the  barbarians  would 
soon  be  in  Italy.  So  Marius  was  appointed  to  go 
against  them  with  a  great  army.     He  crossed  the 


150 


FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 


Mediterranean  into  Gaul  and  met  the  Teutones  and 
Ambrones  near  the  city  of  Aries  on  the  River 
Rhone.     The  Cimbri  had  already  gone  to  Italy. 


.     m 

vf 

i^^^BB 

ilPBi^  '^ 

h- 

•    "#:;>-  ■  ■■•'  .. 

^^■^■K« 

t.  '"•   ^     i  £^    -.    ^ 

L                                       ^           4'4Jf^ 

■#-^r-      W^^ 

!f1 

^ 

k    ■ 

^  -^  m^ 

p^, 

NJH 

/J 

>-- 

L    T  ^- 

M^^- 

H-?-.  '  '^ 

v' 

'1    ^-  ■  ^  .   ■  ■ 

fit. 

f 

ROMAN  ARMY  MADE  TO  PASS  UNDER  THE  YOKE 

Marius  first  made  a  strong  entrenched  camp.  He 
wanted  to  give  his  men  time  to  get  accustomed  to 
the  manners  of  the  strange  enemy  before  attempting 


MARIU8  151 

to  fight  them.  The  Koman  soldiers  Lad  shown  fear 
at  sight  of  the  barbarians.  They  had  never  before 
seen  such  people. 

The  Teutones  were  like  giants.  They  had  large, 
wild;  staring  eyes  and  long  hair,  and  they  made  ter- 
rible war-cries.  The  Ambrones  and  the  Cimbri 
were  as  savage  in  appearance.  The  king  of  the 
Teutones  was  very  tall  and  so  active  that  he  could 
leap  oyer  six  horses  placed  abreast. 

When  the  barbarians  saw  that  the  Romans  would 
not  fight,  they  began  to  taunt  and  insult  them. 
They  walked  up  and  down  in  front  of  the  Roman 
camp  day  after  day,  calling  the  soldiers  cowards. 

"  Why  don't  you  come  out  and  fight  us  like  men  ? "' 
they  cried.  "  Are  you  afraid  'i  Come  out,  come  out ; 
we  are  in  a  hurry  !  We  are  going  to  Rome  after 
we  kill  you  !  " 

Marius  had  hard  work  to  keep  his  men  from  rush- 
ing out  upon  the  barbarians.  He  did  not  yet  want 
to  fight,  but  he  said  to  his  soldiers : 

"  When  the  proper  time  comes  we  will  give  these 
savages  all  the  fighting  they  want." 

One  day  a  gigantic  Teuton  chief,  with  a  long 
shield  and  spear,  came  up  to  the  very  entrance  of 
the  Roman  camp  and  called  loudly  for  Marius  him- 
self to  come  out  and  fight.  The  great  general 
laughed  heartily  at  the  impudence  of  the  barbarian, 


152 


FAMOUS  MEN   OF   ROME 


and  he  sent  out  a  gladiator  to  iight  ^vitli  him  in 

.order  to  give  sport  to  the  Eomans. 

Gladiators  were  men  who  fought  one  another  in 

the  shows  at  Rome  for  the  amusement  of  the  people. 

They,  were  usually  slaves  and  were  very  strong,  ac- 
tive, and  well-trained 
fighters. 

It  did  not  take  the 
gladiator  long  to  de- 
feat the  Teuton.  In 
a  few  minutes 'he  laid 
the  savage  giant  low, 
and  the  Romans 
shouted  with  joy  at 
•the  sight. 

After  the  Teuton 

was  killed  the  Romans  still  remained  in  their  camp. 

Marius  was   not   yet   prepared  to  fight.       At  last 

the  barbarians  got  tired  waiting  and  they  started 

off  to  march  to  Italy. 


GLADIATORS 


n 


So  great  was  the  number  of  the  barbarians  that 
it  took  them  six  whole  days  to  march  past  the 
Roman  camp.  When  all  had  passed  Marius  left 
his  camp  and  followed  them  by  slow  marches.     Be- 


MARITTS  153 

fore  long  the  two  armies  arrived  at  the  city  of  Aix 
on  the  south  coast  of  Gaul. 

Marius  thought  it  was  now  time  to  fight,  so  he 
led  out  his  fine  army  against  the  enemy.  The  first 
battle  was  fought  with  the  Ambrones.  They  aston- 
ished the  Romans  with  their  war-cry.  They  held 
their  shields  upright  and  at  a  little  distance  from 
their  mouths  and  shouted :  "  Ambrones !  Ambrones ! " 
as  if  to  terrify  the  Romans  by  letting  them  know 
who  they  were.  Then  they  rushed  furiously  across 
the  field. 

The  Romans  met  the  charge  with  wondei'ful 
courage.  Their  lines  were  scarcely  broken.  Three 
times  they  drove  back  the  enemy,  and  then  they 
themselves  moved  steadily  forward  with  their  whole 
force.  They  cut  down  the  Ambrones  by  thousands, 
took  many  prisoners,  and  sent  the  others  fleeing 
away  in  terror. 

Next  day  there  was  another  battle.  The  Teu- 
tones  and  Ambrones  together  attacked  the  Ro- 
mans, but  the  Romans  were  again  victorious.  When 
the  battle  was  over  it  was  found  that  more  than 
a  hundred  thousand  barbarians  had  been  killed  or 
taken  prisoners. 

Marius  now  turned  his  attention  to  the  Cimbri, 
who  had  gone  to  Italy.  They  had  encamped  on  a 
beautiful,  fertile  plain  near  the  River  Po,  and  were 


154  FAMOUS   MEN   OF   ROME 

enjoying  the  warm  Italian  sun  and  the  sweet  fruits 
of  the  country. 

But  Marius  was  not  very  long  in  reaching  the 
same  place  with  his  victorious  army.  When  the 
Cimbri  saw  the  Komans  marching  on  to  the  plain 
where  they  were  encamped,  they  were  astonished. 
To  gain  time  they  sent  a  messenger  to  Marius  to  ask 
him  to  give  them  lands  to  live  on  in  Italy. . 

"Give  us,"  said  the  messenger,  "  lands  in  Italy  for 
ourselves  and  for  our  friends,  the  Teutones  and 
Ambrones,  and  we  will  all  live  at  peace." 

"Never  mind  the  Teutones  and  the  Ambrones," 
said  Marius,  "  they  have  lands  already.  We  have 
given  them  some  which  they  will  keep  forever.  We 
will  give  you  the  same." 

Then  a  battle  began  between  the  two  great  armies. 
The  foot  soldiers  of  the  Cimbri  were  formed  into  an 
immense  square,  and  the  men  in  the  front  ranks  were 
chained  to  one  another  by  iron  chains  so  that  they 
could  not  run  away.  There  were  fifteen  thousand 
horsemen,  wearing  on  their  helmets  the  heads  of 
wild  beasts. 

The  battle  was  a  hard  one  for  a  while,  but  it  did 
not  continue  long.  Time  after  time  the  Cimbri 
were  driven  back,  and  at  last  they  were  put  to  flight. 
Thousands  of  them  were  killed,  and  thousands  made 
prisoners. 


MARIUS  155 

When  Marius  and  his  soldiers  returned  to  Rome 
they  got  a  splendid  reception.  There  was  a  parade 
through  the  streets,  and  a  great  feast  was  given  to 
the  people.  A  large  sum  of  money  was  divided 
among  the  soldiers  to  reward  them  for  their  brave 
conduct. 


MA(.E   FESTIVAL   IN   ANCIE^iT    KUML  Tadema 


Marius  was  now  in  high  favor  at  Rome.  The 
nobles  did  not  dare  to  speak  a  word  against  him. 
He  was  elected  consul  seven  times,  so  that  he  was 
master  of  the  Republic  for  a  long  time. 

In  the  sixth  year  that  Marius  was  consul  the  war 
called  the  Social  War  broke  out.  It  lasted  for  three 
years.  It  was  a  war  with  some  of  the  nations  of 
Italy  which  Rome  had  formerly  conquered.  The 
people  of  those  nations  did  not  want  to  separate 
from  Rome,  but  they  wanted  to  have  the  right  of 


156  FAMOUS  MEN   OF   ROME 

voting  as  the  Romans  themselves  had.  Rome  re- 
fused to  give  them  this  nght,  and  at  last  they 
resolved  to  go  to  war.  » 

All  the  greatest  Roman  generals  of  the  time  took 
part  in  this  war.  One  of  them  was  a  young  noble 
named  Sul'la.  He  was  a  very  successful  soldier 
and  won  a  number  of  great  victories.  The  nations 
were  defeated  in  the  war,  but  Rome  soon  granted 
them  most  of  the  rights  they  had  asked  for. 

The  nobles  gave  great  praise  to  Sulla  for  his 
victories  in  the  Social  War.  They  declared  that 
he  was  a  better  general  than  Marius.  So  many  fine 
things  were  said  about  the  young  noble  that  Marius 
became  jealous  and  did  a  very  foolish  thing.  He 
suddenly  left  his  army  in  the  field  and  came  back 
to  Rome.  He  complained  that  he  was  nervous  and 
he  shut  himself  up  in  his  house  and  refused  to 
see  any  of  his  friends  for  weeks. 

The  nobles  then  started  a  story  that  Marius  was 
getting  silly  and  weak-minded  from  old  age.  He 
was  about  seventy  at  this  time,  and  the  nobles  said 
he  ought  to  retire  from  the  army.  This  made  the 
old  hero  angry  and  he  declared  he  was  as  strong 
in  mind  and  body  as  any  of  the  young  Romans. 

One  morning  he  went  to  the  place  where  the 
young  men  of  Rome  used  to  practise  athletic  sports, 
and  for  two  or  three  hours  he  wrestled  and  ran  and 


MARIU8  167 

leaped  witli  as  much  skill  and  strength  as  any  one. 
Some  of  the  nobles  who  happened  to  pass  by  saw 
him  and  were  very  much  amused. 

About  this  time  Sulla  was  elected  consul  on  ac- 
count of  his  victories  in  the  Social  War.  Shortly 
afterwards  Rome  declared  war  against  Mith'ri-da'tes, 
King  of  Pontus  in  Asia  Minor,  who  had  cruelly 
put  to  death  a  number  of  the  citizens  of  a  Roman 
province  in  Asia. 

\The  Senate  appointed  Sulla  to  command  the 
Roman  army  in  this  war.  But  as  soon  as  he  left 
Rome  with  his  army  one  of  the  tribunes  proposed  at 
an  Assembly  of  the  people  that  the  command  should 
be  taken  from  him  and  given  to  Marius.  The  As- 
sembly agreed  to  this  and  Marius  accepted  the  ap- 
pointment. He  sent  word  to  the  army,  which  was 
not  far  from  Rome,  that  he  would  come  in  a  short 
time  to  take  command. 

When  Sulla  heard  this  he  became  very  angry.  He 
called  his  soldiers  around  him,  told  them  what  had 
been  done,  and  asked  them  if  they  would  submit  to 
be  the  slaves  of  Marius  and  his  party. 

"  No,  no  !  "  cried  the  soldiers,  "  we  will  not  sub- 
mit.    We  want  you  for  our  general."  j 

"  Then  follow  me  to  Rome,"  said  Sulla,  "  we  vrill 
teach  Marius  and  his  friends  that  they  must  not 
insult  us." 


158  FAMOUS  MEN   OF  ROME 

So  the  soldiers  marched  quickly  back  to  Rome 
with  Sulla  at  their  head.  They  declared  that  they 
would  take  the  city  out  of  the  hands  of  rebels,  as 
they  called  the  friends  of  Marius.  When  they  en- 
tered the  city  they  were  met  by  Marius  and  his  fol- 
lowers and  there  was  a  battle,  in  which  Marius  was 
defeated.  Then  a  law  was  passed  declaring  Marius 
a  traitor  and  that  he  should  be  put  to  death. 

But  Marius  fled  from  Rome  with  some  friends  and 
went  down  the  Tiber  in  a  boat  to  the  Mediterranean. 
He  sailed  along  the  coast  and  then  he  and  his  com- 
panions went  ashore  to  seek  for  food.  They  wan- 
dered through  the  country  for  some  time  without 
seeing  any  one.  At  last  they  met  a  farmer,  who 
gave  them  something  to  eat.  He  told  them  that 
horsemen  from  Rome  were  riding  through  the  place 
searching  for  Marius. 

They  were  frightened  at  this  and  they  ran  into 
a  thick  wood  where  they  stopped  all  night.  But 
while  his  companions  were  downcast  Marius  was 
cheerful  and  hopeful. 

"This  bad  state  of  things,"  he  said,  "  will  last  only 
a  short  time.  I  know  it,  because  the  gods  have 
revealed  to  me  that  I  shall  be  once  more  consul  of 
Rome ! " 

But  next  day  Marius  was  taken  by  the  horsemen. 
He  saw  them  coming  and  waded  far  into  a  great 


MARIU&  169 

raarsli  and  hid  himself  among  some  high,  thick  reeds. 
The  horsemen  rode  into  the  marsh  and  found  him, 
and  they  put  a  rope  round  his  neck  and  dragged 
him  to  the  shore.  Then  they  shut  him  up  in  a  hut 
and  began  to  think  what  they  should  do  with 
him. 

At  last  they  decided  to  put  him  to  death  at  once. 
They  thought  this  would  please  Sulla,  and  that  per- 
haps he  would  reward  them  for  it.  So  they  gave  a 
sword  to  a  slave  and  sent  him  to  kill  Marius.  The 
slave  entered  the  hut  and  stood  for  a  few  moments 
looking  at  the  great  general.  Marius  glared  at  him 
like  a  wild  beast  and  said  in  a  stern  voice  : 

"  Slave,  will  you  dare  to  kill  Caius  Marius  ? " 

The  slave  started  back  in  terror  and  ran  out  of  the 
hut.  Then  he  threw  down  his  sword  at  the  feet  of 
the  soldiers  and  cried  out  that  he  could  never  have 
the  courage  to  slay  Marius.  . 

It  was  now  decided  to  send  Marius  out  of  the 
country.  So  he  was  taken  to  a  ship  and  carried  to 
Africa.  After  going  ashore  he  wandered  through 
the  country  until  he  came  to  the  place  where  Car- 
thage once  stood.  Nothing  now  remained  of  the 
famous  city  but  a  mass  of  gloomy  ruins,  for  the 
Homans  had  entirely  destroyed  it  a  few  years  before 
in  the  third  Punic  War.  In  these  ruins  Marius  lived 
for  a  short  time.  .One  day  a  soldier  came  to  tell  him 


160 


FAMOUS   MEN   OF  ROME 


that  the  governor  of  Africa  wanted  him  to  leave  the 
country. 

"  Go  to  your  governor,"  answered  Marius,  "  and 

tell  him  that 
you  saw  Caius 
Marius  sitting 
on  the  ruins  of 
Carthage." 

Not  long 
afterwards, 
when  Sulla  was 
away  fighting 
King  Mithri- 
dates,  there  was/ 
great  trouble  at 
Eome.  One  of 
the  consuls 
named  Cin'ta, 
aided  by  many 
of  the  plebeians, 
attempted  to  get 
the  control  of 
public  affai^^s, 
but  was  defeated 
by  the  nobles.  Then  Cinna  and  his  followers  were 
forced  to  leave  the  city.  They  organized  an  army 
among  the  Italians  who  had  been  complaining  of 


MAEIUS  IN  THE  RUINS  OF   CARTHAGE 


MARIU8  161 

not  getting  their  rights  from  Rome,  and  they  sent 
to  Africa  for  Marius  to  come  and  be  their  com- 
mander. 

When  Marius  arrived  he  made  an  attack  on  Rome 
and  soon  captured  it.  Then  he  marched  in  through 
the  gates  at  the  head  of  his  army  and  took  possession 
of  the  city.  At  the  next  election  the  people  elected 
him  consul. 

'  Marius  now  resolved  to  have  vengeance  on  the 
nobles  who  had  driven  him  from  Rome.  And  for 
several  days  the  old  Roman,  surrounded  by  a  guard 
of  freed  slaves,  went  through  the  city  seeking  the 
nobles  in  their  houses,  in  the  temples,  in  the  Forum, 
and  everywhere  that  they  could  be  found,  and  killing 
them  without  mercy. 

These  were  dreadful  days.  Some  of  'the  noblest 
men  of  Rome  were  put  to  death.  None  of  Sulla's 
friends  was  spared.  Even  his  wife  and  children 
were  harshly  treated  and  forced  to  leave  the  city. 

Marius  did  not  stop  the  bloody  work  until  he  had 

killed  all  nis  enemies  that  he  could  find.     But  his 

triumph  was  short.     He  died  in  a  little  more  than 

two   weeks    after  he   had    become   consul   for   the  \ 

seventh  time. 
11 


SULLA 


We  "have  said  something  of  Sulla,  but  there  is 
much  more  to  be  told  about  him,  for  he  was  a  very- 
remarkable  man,  and  he  did  remarkable  things  in 
Eome.  His  full  name  was  Lu'ci-us  Cornelius  Sulla. 
He  belonged  to  a  very  noble  family. 
When  he  was  a  young  man  he  was 
very  fond  of  study  and  became  an 
excellent  scholar.  He  was  also  a 
good  speaker  and  often  made  elo- 
quent speeches  in  the  Forum  on 
public  ajffairs. 

He  was  a  large,  strong  man,  with 
red  hair  and  a  ruddy  face.  He  was 
a  very  great  soldier  and  one  of  the 
greatest  of  Roman  generals.  They 
called  him  "  the  Lion,"  he  was  so  brave  in  battle, 
and  he  was  so  successful  in  war  that  he  also  got  the 
name  of  Felix^  a  Latin  word  which  means  happy  or 
fortunate. 


SULLA 


SULLA  163 


n 


0]s-E  of  the  greatest  wars  that  Sulla  was  in  was 
a  war  against  the  Greeks.  Rome  had  conquered 
Greece  some  time  before,  and  the  governors  of  many 
of  tlie  Greek  cities  were  Romans.  These  governors 
were  very  cruel  to  the  Greeks ;  therefore  the  people 
hated  them.  Mithridates,  King  of  Pontus,  knew 
this,  and  he  offered  to  send  armies  to  Greece  to  help 
to  drive  the  Romans  out  of  the  country.  The 
Greeks  were  very  glad  of  this,  and  they  prepared 
for  war  against  the  Romans. 

Sulla  arrived  in  Greece  with  a  strong  army  and 
began  a  march  through  the  country.  He  captured 
several  of  the  cities  and  compelled  them  to  sub- 
mit to  the  Roman  governors.  Then  he  marched 
on  to  Athens,  the  capital  city  of  Greece.  But  he 
found  that  it  was  occupied  by  Ar  che-la'us,  one  of 
the  generals  of  King  Mithridates,  who  had  brought 
from  Asia  Minor  an  army  to  help  the  Greeks. 

Athens  at  this  time  was  one  of  the  most  strongly 
fortified  cities  in  the  world.  Its  walls  were  seventy 
feet  high,  and  they  were  made  of  huge,  thick  blocks 
of  hard,  smooth  stone.  It  took  thousands  of  men 
many  years  to  build  these  massive  walls.  The  city 
was  also  well  supplied  with  food,  so  that  it  could 
hold  out  against  a  siege  for  a  long  time. 


164 


FAMOUS  MEN   OF  ROME 


For  several  weeks  Sulla  attacked  Athens  furi- 
ously day  by  day,  but  it  was  all  in  vain.  He  could 
not  take  the  city.  His  soldiers  tried  many  times 
to  mount  the  high  walls,  but  they  could  not  do  it. 
*  At  last  Sulla  had  battering-rams  made.  These 
were  engines  for  breaking  down  the  walls  of  toxvns. 
They  were  long,  heavy  beams  of  wood,  with  iron  at 
one  end,  formed  like  the  head  of  a  ram.  This  was 
why  they  were  called  battering  rams.  At  first  they 
were  worked  by  men  with  their  hands  and  bodily 
strength,  as  you  see  in  the  picture.  In  later  times 
they  were  hung  from  a  cross  beam,  so  as  to  swing 

back  and  forward,  and 
the  iron  end  was  made 
to  strike  ao^ainst  the  wall 
vnth  great  force. 

When  a  number  of 
battering-rams  were 
ready,  Sulla  began  an- 
other attack  on  Athens. 
But  at  dead  of  night  a 
party  of  Athenians  came  out  of  the  city  and 
burned  all  the  battering-rams.  Sulla  quickly  had 
new  ones  made,  and  after  months  of  hard  labor 
the  Romans  at  last  succeeded  in  breaking  down 
the  walls  and  taking  Athens.  They  plundered  the 
beautiful  city    and  destroyed  many  fine  works  of 


BATTERING  RAM 


SULLA  165 

art.  It  IS  said  tliat  tliey  carried  off  more  than  six 
hundred  pounds  of  gold  and  silver. 

Sulla  remained  in  Athens  only  long  enough  to 
establish  Roman  authority  there  once  more.  Then 
he  departed  with  his  army  and  marched  to  -Chser'- 
o-ne'a,  another  town  of  Greece,  where  there  was  a 
force  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  men, 
which  King  Mithridates  had  sent  to  help  the  Greeks. 

The  Romans  numbered  only  about  forty  thousand 
men,  but  Sulla  was  not  afraid  to  fight  the  immense 
army  of  Mithridates.  By  placing  his  troops  in  good 
positions  at  the  beginning  of  the  battle,  and  after- 
wards by  moving  them  skillfully  from  one  point  to 
another,  he  was  able  to  win  a  great  victory. 

This  was  a  remarkable  battle  in  one  respect. 
Althouo;h  there  were  furious  charo^es  and  hand-to- 
hand  combats,  in  which  thousands  upon  thousands 
of  the  soldiers  of  Mithridates  were  slain,  the  Romans 
lost  only  a  few  men.  We  are  told  that  when  the 
roll-call  of  the  Roman  army  took  place  after  the 
battle  only  twelve  men  failed  to  answer  to  their 
names !  The  army  of  Mithridates  had  lost  one 
hundred  and  ten  thousand  men;  the  Romans  only 
twelve  men ! 

But  perhaps  we  ought  not  to  believe  that  so 
very  few  Romans  were  killed,  for  it  seems  hardly 
possible  that  it  could  have  been  so.     It  is  certain, 


166  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

however,  that  Sulla  gained  a  great  victory.  He 
also  defeated  another  army  sent  by  Mithridates  soon 
afterwards. 

Then  Archelaus,  the  general  of  the  army  of 
Mithridates,  begged  for  peace.  Sulla  made  terms  that 
were  very  good  for  Rome,  and  Archelaus  and  Mithri- 
dates had  to  accept  them.  Mithridates  had  to  give 
the  Romans  a  large  sum  of  money  and  seventy  ships 
of  war  and  to  promise  to  be  the  friend  of  Rome  in 
future.     Thus  the  war  with  Greece  ended. 

Ill 

Sulla  now  prepared  to  return  to  Italy.  He 
had  heard  how  his  friends  in  Rome  and  his  wife 
and  children  had  been  treated  by  Marius.  He 
was  greatly  enraged,  and  in  his  letter  to  the  Sen- 
ate, telling  them  of  his  victories  in  Greece,  he 
said: 

"  In  return  for  my  services,  which  have  brought 
honor  and  glory  to  Rome,  my  wife  and  children 
have  been  driven  from  their  home,  my  house  has 
been  burned,  and  my  friends  have  been  put  to  death. 
I  am  now  going  back  to  punish  those  who  did  these 
things." 

When  the  letter  was  read  to  the  senators,  they 
were  very  much  alarmed,  for  they   knew  that   if 


SULLA  167 

Sulla  did  as  he  threatened  it  would  cause  a  dreadful 
civil  war  in  Rome.  In  reply  to  Sulla  they  begged 
him  not  to  make  war  on  his  own  countrymen,  and 
they  promised  to  do  their  best  to  bring  about  a 
friendly  understanding  between  him  and  the  fol- 
lowers of  Marius.  Sulla  answered  that  he  did  not 
want  any  understanding  with  them. 

"I  want  no  friendship  with  my  enemies,"  he 
said .  "  I  am  able  to  take  care  of  myself.  It  will 
be  well  for  them  if  they  can  take  care  of  them- 
selves." 

Soon  afterwards  he  set  out  for  Italy  with  his 
army.  Rome  was  then  under  the  power  of  the 
Marian  party.  This  party  was  led  by  Cinna  and 
by  Marius  the  Younger,  the  son  of  the  great  Marius. 
When  they  heard  that  Sulla  was  coming  they  raised 
an  army  and  went  forth  to  drive  him  back.  Young 
Marius  said : 

"  Now  it  will  be  decided  who  shall  be  the  master 
of  Rome ! " 

A  battle  was  fought  between  the  two  armies.  It 
was  long  and  severe,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed  as  if 
the  Marians  would  win.  Even  Sulla  himself  had 
no  hope  of  victory.  But  soon  very  bad  blunders 
made  by  the  Marians  turned  the  tide  of  battle  in 
his  favor,  and  he  was  victorious.  He  took  six 
thousand  prisoners. 


168  FAMOUS  MEN   OF  ROME 

IV 

\  Sulla  now  entered  Eome  as  its  master,  and  a 
cruel  master  he  proved  to  be.  He  first  got  himself 
appointed  dictator  for  as  long  a  time  as  he  wished 
to  hold  the  office.  Then  he  commanded  that  all  the 
followers  of  Marius  should  be  slain.  So  they  were 
hunted  out  of  their  hiding  places  and  all  put  to 
death  without  mercy. 

When  every  person  that  was  known  to  have  been 
connected  with  the  Marian  party  was  killed,  the 
people  thought  Sulla  would  cease  his  murderous 
work,  but  he  did  not.  He  went  on  killing  this  one 
and  that  one — now  a  poor  man  and  then  a  rich  man 
— until  at  last  the  Romans  became  dreadfully 
frightened.  "  When  will  he  stop  ? "  they  said  to 
one  another  in  trembling  tones. 

One  day  a  senator  had  the  courage  to  ask  Sulla 
if  he  would  please  to  say  whom  he  intended  to  spare 
from  death.     Sulla  coolly  answered  : 

"  I  have  not  yet  made  up  my  mind,  but  if  it  is  the 
wish  of  the  Senate  I  will  shortly  make  out  a  list  of 
persons  who  must  die  !  " 

•  And  Sulla  really  did  make  out  a  list  of  persons 
he  intended  to  kill.  It  was  called  a  proscription 
LIST  and  was  hung  up  in  the  Forum,  ph,  how 
anxiously  the  poor,  terror-stricken  Romans  \Nent  to 


SULLA 


169 


that  list  to  read  the  names !  And  if  a  man  saw  that 
his  name  was  not  there  he  went  away  with  joy  in 
his  heart.  But  if  his  name  was  there  he  covered 
his  face  with  his  toga  and  ran  off  to  hide  him- 
self  ' 

The  next  day  another  and  a  longer  list  of  pro- 
scribed persons  was  hung  up,  and  the  day  after  still 


A  ROMAN  TRIUMPH 


another  list.  Any  one  who  killed  a  proscribed  per- 
son got  a  large  reward  in  money,  but  if  anybody 
helped  a  proscribed  person  to  escape  he  was  pun- 
ished by  death.  This  dreadful  work  was  continued 
until  many  thousands  of  people  in  Rome  and 
throughout  Italy  were  slain. 

Then  Sulla  had  his  Triumph  in  the  streets  of 
Rome.     It  was  the  most  magniiicent  procession  that 


lYO  FAMOUS   MEN    OF   ROME 

had  yet  been  seen  in  the  city.  There  were  hundreds 
of  beautiful  horses  drawing  bright,  golden  chariots ; 
there  were  long  lines  of  soldiers  in  glittering  armor; 
there  were  numbers  of  slaves,  and  there  were  huge 
wagons  containing  gold  and  silver  and  other  pre- 
cious things,  which  Sulla  had  got  in  Grreece  after 
his  victories  over  Mithridates.  The  dictator  himself 
rode  in  the  most  splendid  chariot  of  all.  He  seemed 
like  a  king,  and  indeed  was  a  king  in  power,  though 
not  in  name.     This  was  what  was  called  a  Triumph. 

Sulla,  for  his  own  protection,  had  a  bodyguard 
formed  of  slaves  who  had  belonged  to  the  people  he 
had  proscribed  and  put  to  death.  This  bodyguard 
is  said  to  have  numbered  ten  thousand  men,  and  they 
were  called  Cornelii,  after  Sulla's  family  name. 

Under  the  rule  of  Sulla  his  own  will  was  law. 
He  could  do  whatever  he  pleased.  But  he  did 
not  remain  dictator  a  long  time.  In  about  a  year 
after  his  Triumph  he  seemed  to  have  got  tired 
of  ruling  and  resigned  the  office.  Then  he  left 
Rome  and  went  to  reside  in  his  country  house 
on  the  beautiful  Bay  of  Na]3les.  Here  he  spent 
the  rest  of  his  life,  passing  his  time  partly  in  feast- 
ing and  merriment  and  partly  in  study.  He  died 
78  B.O. 


POMPEY    THE    GREAT 


;  INToT  long  after  the  death  of  Sulla,  a  new  enemy 
to  Eome  appeared  upon  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  A 
large  number  of  people  who  lived  on  the  coasts  of 
Asia  Minor  built  and  armed  fleets  of  ships,  sailed 
along  the  shores  of  Italy,  and  attacked  and  plun- 
dered Roman  vessels. 

The  sea-rovers,  or  pirates,  as  the  Romans  called 
them,  had  more  than  a  thousand  well-built,  fast- 
sailing  ships.  Many  of  them  were  adorned  with 
richly  gilded  bows  and  sterns,  purple  sails,  and 
silver-mounted  oars.  They  seized  trading-vessels, 
robbed  them,  and  killed  every  person  on  board. 

Often,  too,  the  pirates  committed  robberies  on 
land.  A  boat's  crew  from  a  pirate  ship  would  go 
ashore,  put  to  death  all  the  farmers  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, and  lay  waste  their  farms.  So  in  a  short 
time  the  pirates  made  themselves  masters  of  the 
Italian  coasts,  and  kept  the  people  in  constant  ex- 
citement and  terror. 


172  FAMOUS  MEN   OF  ROME 

But  at  last  tlie  Eomans  resolved  to  make  war 
upon  the  robbers,  and  selected  a  very  popular  young 
man  named  Cne'i-us  Pompey  to  be  tlie  general. 
The  people  had  great  confidence  in  Pompey.  They 
said  that  he  was  the  only  one  who  could  put  down 
the  Mediterranean  pirates,  and  demanded  that  he 
should  be  sent  to  do  the  work. 

Pompey  was  a  fine-looking  man,  with  very  pleas- 
ant manners.  He  had  made  himself  famous  as  a 
soldier  by  brave  deeds  in  wars  in  Spain  and  Africa, 
and  was  generally  called  Pompey  the  Great.  His 
father  had  been  a  great  commander,  and  the  boy 
had  lived  in  camps  and  taken  part  in  wars  almost 
from  childhood.  He  had  had  many  adventures 
during  his  army  life  and  had  always  shown  the 
qualities  of  a  hero.  He  fought  on  the  side  of 
Sulla  in  many  battles  against  the  Marians,  and 
he  was  thought  to  be  one  of  Sulla's  greatest 
generals. 

The  Roman  Senate,  therefore,  yielded  to  the  de- 
mand of  the  people  and  appointed  Pompey  to  go 
forth  against  the  pirates.  He  accepted  the  com- 
mand and  promptly  set  to  work  to  carry  out  the 
important  undertaking. 

He  gathered  fourteen  powerful  fleets.  He  kept 
one  of  them  for  himself  and  put  the  others  under 
the  command  of  good  officers.    Then  he  divided  the 


POMPEY  THE   GREAT 


173 


Mediterranean  into   thirteen  districts,  and   sent   a 
fleet  to  each  district  to  hunt  the  pirates. 

With  his  own  fleet  he  sailed  as  far  as  the  Strait 
of  Gibraltar  and  then  turned  back  towards  Italy. 
On  the  way  he  chased  the  pirate  vessels  before  him 


A  ROMAN  SEAPORT 


as  he  met  them,  until  they  were  stopped  and  seized 
by  some  of  the  thirteen  fleets  stationed  here  and 
there  all  over  the  Mediterranean.  The  pirates  were 
thus  caught  in  a  trap.  Thousands  of  them  were 
killed  in  battles  with  the  different  fleets,  and  their 
vessels  were  burned.  The  remainder  soon  surren- 
dered to  the  Romans,  and  in  three  months  the  sea 
was  cleared  of  jpirates.  ' 


174  FAMOUS  MEN   OF   ROME 

Pompey  was  mucli  praised  for  this  great  work, 
and  the  people  said  lie  was  just  the  man  to  take 
charge  of  the  war  against  Mithridates.  This  king 
had  again  attacked  a  Roman  province  in  Asia, 
and  the  Romans  resolved  to  punish  him.  But 
Mithridates  was  a  very  powerful  man.  He  had 
great  armies  ;  he  was  a  skillful  general,  and  he  de- 
feated the  Romans  in  many  battles.  The  Roman 
people,  therefore,  resolved  to  send  Pompey  against 
him.  Pompey  was  much  pleased  to  be  placed  in 
command  of  a  great  army,  and  he  proudly  started 
off  with  his  soldiers  for  the  eastern  lands. 


n 

Pompey  remained  in  Asia  several  years  and  won 
many  great  victories.  He  conquered  a  number  of 
countries  and  put  Roman  governors  over  them.  Then 
he  came  back  to  Rome,  bringing  kings  and  princes 
as  prisoners,  and  an  enormous  amount  of  gold  and 
silver  and  other  valuable  things  to  enrich  the  Re- 
public and  himself.  He  was  welcomed  in  a  magnifi- 
cent manner  and  he  had  a  Triumph  such  as  was  given 
to  great  and  victorious  generals. 

But  Pompey  now  began  to  think  of  making  him- 
self master  of  Rome  during  his  life-time.  He  had 
greatly  pleased  the  people  by  his  victories  in  war, 


POMPEY  THE  GREAT  175 

and  they  were  praising  him  on  every  side.  How  to 
keep  their  favor,  and  by  it  to  get  power  was  what 
now  occupied  his  mind.  He  had  been  consul  before, 
but  he  was  now  elected  again,  and  then  he  set  about 
providing  various  sorts  of  amusements  for  the  people. 
He  believed  that  if  the  people  were  amused  they 
would  be  less  likely  to  object  to  his  taking  the  pow- 
ers of  the  government  entirely  into  his  own  hands. 

He  built  a  theatre  large  enough  to  seat  forty 
thousand  persons.  This  was  the  first  great  theatre 
erected  in  Rome.  It  was  of  stone  and  very  strongly 
made,  vlt  had  no  roof,  and  the  rows  of  seats  rose 
one  above  another  in  a  half  circle.  At  one  end 
there  was  an  immense  stage  on  which  all  the  per- 
formances took  place. 

In  this  grand  theatre  Pompey  gave  some  very 
wonderful  exhibitions  from  time  to  time.  He  had 
lions,  elephants,  and  other  wild  animals  brought 
from  Asia  and  Africa  at  a  great  expense.  These' 
animals  were  let  loose  upon  the  stage  and  gladia- 
tors fought  them  in  full  view  of  the  people  in 
the  theatre. 

There  were  also  thrilling  combats  in  the  theatres 
between  the  gladiators  themselves.  They  fought 
each  other  savagely  until  one  was  wounded  and 
fell  upon  the  stage.  Then  the  victor  would  turn 
towards  the  audience  to  find  whether  they  wished 


176  FAMOUS  MEN   OF   ROME 

him  to  kill  the  wounded  man.  If  the  people 
wanted  this  they  would  stretch  out  their  hands 
with  the  thumbs  down ;  if  they  did  not  want  him 
killed  they  would  hold  their  thumbs  upward.  If 
he  had  shown  skill  and  courage  and  fought  well 
they  would  give  the  sign  to  let  him  live,  but  if  he 
had  not  made  a  brave  fight  they  would  turn  down 
their  thumbs  and  the  unfortunate  man  would  be 
instantly  killed. 

Slaves  and  prisoners  taken  in  war  were  taught  to 
be  gladiators  in  schools  established  for  the  purpose. 
There  were  hundreds  of  these  trained  fighters  al- 
ways ready  for  the  combats.  The  Romans  were 
very  fond  of  such  amusements,  and  great  crowds  of 
men,  and  women  too,  attended  the  theatre  whenever 
there  was  a  fight  of  gladiators. 

By  giving  the  people  a  great  deal  of  amusement 
of  this  kind  on  a  grand  scale,  Pompey  became  the 
great  popular  favorite  in  Rome,  and  while  the  peo- 
ple were  entertained  at  his  theatre  he  managed  the 
government  to  suit  himself. 

Ill 

At  this  time  the  Romans  ruled  a  vast  territory, 
which  included  not  only  all  Italy,  but  Greece, 
Spain,  Syria,  Egypt,  Turkey,  Switzerland,  and  parts 


178  FAMOUS   MEN  OP  ROME 

of  France  and  Germany.  Country  after  country 
had  been  conquered  during  a  long-  series  of  years, 
and  millions  of  people  of  different  races  and  lan- 
guages were  subjects  of  Rome. 

Rome  itself  was  a  city  witli  a  population  of  about 
half  a  million.  It  covered  a  very  large  area,  in- 
cluding the  famous  seven  hills.  Its  streets  were 
narrow  and  crooked,  but  well-paved  and  clean.  In 
the  centre  of  the  city  were  a  number  of  large 
squares  in  Avhich  there  were  handsome  buildings. 
There  were  magnificent  temples  and  baths,  and  the 
houses  of  the  nobles  and  wealthy  plebeians  were 
very  large  and  splendid.  Many  of  the  fine  houses 
were  built  of  marble,  with  great  pillars  in  front. 
Elegant  furniture  and  handsome  carpets  and  rugs 
filled  the  rooms. 

There  were  many  rich  men  in  Rome  at  this  time. 
Most  of  them  had  obtained  the  greater  part  of  their 
wealth  by  plundering  the  conquered  countries. 
They  lived  in  a  very  magnificent  manner,  gave 
splendid  dinners  and  entertainments,  and  had  hun- 
dreds of  slaves  to  attend  upon  them. 

The  slaves  were  a  large  class  who  were  brought 
to  Rome  from  many  nations  conquered  in  war. 
Many  of  them  belonged  to  high  families  in  their 
own  country,  and  were  well  educated.  Some  of 
them  were  physicians,  and  others  were  good  scholars 


POMPEY  THE  GREAT 


1Y9 


and  could  read  and  write  for  their  masters.  The 
best  cooks,  builders,  tailors,  and  farmers  were  slaves. 
In  fact  it  was  by  slaves  that  nearly  all  the  skilled 
work  in  Rome  was  done. 


SLAVE   MARKET,    ROME 
The  inscription  on  the  picture  is  the  basiness  sign,  mango  being  Latin  for  slave-dealer. 

There  were  markets  in  Rome  where  slaves  were 
sold.  The  slaves  to  be  sold  were  placed  on  a 
platform.  Labels  hung  from  their  necks,  showing 
their  age  and  what  they  were  able  to  do. 


180  FAMOUS   MEN   OF   ROME 

The  Roman  cHldreii  were  taught  to  read  and 
write  Latin,  which  was  their  own  language.  They 
were  also  taught  arithmetic  and  history.  Most  of 
the  teachers  were  well-educated  slaves. 

Rome,  then,  was  very  rich  and  very  powerful 
in  the  time  of  Pompey,  and  for  many  years 
Pompey  was  very  popular.  At  one  time  he  be- 
came dangerously  ill  while  visiting  Naples.  Then 
the  people  showed  their  great  love  for  him  in 
many  ways,  and  w^hen  he  recovered  thei-e  were 
public  thanksgivings  throughout  Italy.  On  his 
Journey  home  great  crowds  came  out  to  greet 
him  as  he  passed  through  the  towns,  and  when  he 
arrived  at  Rome  he  was  received  with  unbounded 

Pompey  had  now  a  very  strong  hold  on  the 
affections  of  the  people,  so  he  cared  little  for  the 
efforts  made  by  a  very  ambitious  Roman  named 
Ju'li-us  Cse'sar  to  win  public  favor.  But  Caesar  was 
a  man  of  strong  will  and  great  energy.  He  had 
resolved  to  be  the  ruler  of  Rome,  and  he  spared  no 
labor  to  accomplish  his  purpose.  Pompey  at  last 
became  alarmed  at  Caesar's  efforts,  but  it  was  then 
too  late.  He  was  defeated  by  Caesar  in  a  great 
battle  and  soon  after  lost  his  life.  How  these 
things  came  about  we  shall  learn  in  the  next  story. 


JULIUS  0J5SAR 


Of  all  the  Roman  lieroes 
tlie  greatest  was  Caius 
Julius  Caesar.  He  was  a 
very  remarkable  man  in 
many  ways.  He  was  re- 
markable as  a  soldier,  states- 
man, scholar,  and  as  an  ora- 
tor. He  wrote  a  history  of 
his  own  wars  which  is  one 
of  the  best  ancient  histories 
that  have  come  down  to  ns. 
It  is  called  Ccesar^s  Com- 
onentaries,  and  it  is  used  as 
a  text  book  in  all  schools 
where  Latin  is  tanght. 
"V^  This  famous  Roman  was  tall,  handsome,  agree- 
able in  his  manners,  and  of  a  gay  disposition.  He 
liked  songs  and  stories,  and  even  when  he  was  a 
great  general  he  often  was  as  merry  and  frolicsome 


JULIUS   CJESAR 


182  FAMOUS   MEN   OF   ROME 

as  a  boy.  Sometimes,  however,  he  was  stern  and 
cruel  instead  of  kind  and  forgiving. 

Csesar  was  a  member  of  the  Julian  family,  which 
was  one  of  the  first  families  in  Kome.  Four  Oaesars 
of  this  family  had  been  consuls  of  Eome  in  one 
century. 

The  aunt  of  Julius  Csesar  was  the  wife  of  the 
great  leader,  Marius.  Naturally,  Sulla  was  Caesar's 
bitter  enemy  and  did  all  he  could  against  him,  "  In 
that  young  man  there  is  many  a  Marius,"  Sulla  is  re- 
ported to  have  said.  However,  by  keeping  out  of 
Rome,  Caesar  was  able  to  escape  the  traps  laid  for 
him  at  Sulla's  orders.  As  soon  as  Sulla  died  Caesar 
returned  to  Rome. 

Although  he  was  a  rich  noble,  he  became  a  friend 
of  the  plebeians  and  always  supported  their  cause. 
He  spoke  a  great  deal  in  the  Forum  upon  political 
questions,  and  the  people  looked  upon  him  as  their 
champion.  They  elected  him  to  several  public 
offices,  one  after  the  other,  and  thus  his  influence  and 
power  were  much  increased.  At  last  he  was  ap- 
pointed governor  of  Spain,  which  was  then  ruled  by 
the  Romans. 

On  his  way  to  Spain  he  stopped  for  a  night 
at  a  little  village  among  the  mountains.  One  of 
his  companions  remarked  that  perhaps  in  that 
small   place   the    people    had    their    contests    and 


JULIUS   C^SAR 


183 


their  jealousies,  as  well   as  people  in  large  cities. 

"  Poor  as  this  village  is,  I  would  rather  be  first 
here  than  second  in  Rome ! "  said  Caesar. 

Caesar  was  very  successful  in  Spain,  and  the 
Romans  were  so  pleased  with  his  conduct  that  when 
he  came  home  they  made  him  consul.     During  his 


ROMAN  LEGIONARIES 


consulship  he  had  many  good  laws  passed..  When 
about  forty  years  old  he  was  given  command  of  an 
army,  and  for  some  years  followed  the  life  of  a 
soldier  with  wonderful  success. 

The  Roman  armies  were  formed  of  regiments 
called  legions.  Each  legion  contained  over  three 
thousand  men,  who  were  sometimes  called  legionaries. 
The  weapons  of  the  legionary  were  a  short  sword 
and  a  long  spear  called  Sijpilv/m, 


184 


FAMOUS  MEN  OP  ROME 


Besides  spears  and  swords  the  Roman  soldiers 
used  slings  for  hurling  stones  against  the  enemy. 
They  also  had  a  machine  called  a  hallista  for  throw- 

ing  stones  too 
heavy  for  hand- 
slings. 

The  military 
standard  of  the 
Romans  was  a 
figure  of  iiii  eagle 
borne  on  the  top 
of  a  pole.  Each 
legion  had  one 
of  these  and  the 
soldier  who  car- 
ried it  was  called 
the  eagle-hearer. 
Other  standards 
also  were  used 
by  the  coliorts  or 
companies  into 
which  the  lescions 
were  divided. 
Caesar's  first  great  battles  were  in  Gaul.  The 
Romans  called  all  the  inhabitants  of  that  country 
Gauls,  although  they  were  of  many  nations  and 
spoke  different  languages.     The  Gauls  were  brave, 


STANDAKD  BEARERS 


JULIUS   C^SAR 


185 


but  Caesar  proved  to  be  a  great  general,  and  in  a 
few  years  he  conquered  all  Gaul. 

The  Eoman  soldiers  had  great  confidence  in 
Caesar.  When  he  led  them  they  believed  victory  was 
cei-tain.  He  was  strict  in  his  discipline,  but  very 
friendly  and  pleasant  with 
the  men,  and  he  often  gave 
them  praise.  He  himself 
shared  in  their  hardships. 
Day  after  day  he  marched  on 
foot  at  their  head  through 
heat  and  rain  and  sno^v,  and 
fought  with  them  in  the 
front  ranks. 

On  one  occasion  Caesar 
built  a  very  remarkable 
bridge.  He  wanted  to  get 
across  the  Eiver  Khine  ^\ith 


BALLISTA 


his  army,  to  punish  some  German  tribes  who  were 
in  the  habit  of  attacking  the  friends  of  Rome  in 
Gaul.  There  was  no  bridge.  The  Germans  used 
to  get  over  in  small  ]3arties  by  swimming,  or  in 
small  boats.  But  a  large  army  could  not  cross  in 
this  way  without  a  great  deal  of  trouble  and  loss 
of  time,  so  Caesar  resolved  to  build  a  bridge.  He 
quickly  set  his  men  to  work  and  they  finished 
the  bridge  in  ten  days,  though  all  the  wood  h.^d  to 


JULIUS   C^SAR  187 

be  cut  clo^vn  in  the  forests  and  carried  to  the  river 
side. 

One  of  Caesar's  greatest  victories  in  Gaul  was  the 
taking  of  the  town  of  A-le'si-a.  This  town  had  very- 
strong  walls  all  round  it  and  it  was  defended  by  a 
great  army  of  Gauls  commanded  by  a  brave  chief 
named  Ver-cin-get'o-rix.  Caesar  surrounded  the  town 
with  his  army  and  prevented  food  from  being  sent 
in  to  the  inhabitants.  He  also  defeated  an  army 
that  came  from  other  parts  of  Gaul  to  help  the 
Alesians.  Yercingetorix  then  had  to  come  out  from 
the  town  and  give  himself  up  to  Caesar. 

After  many  conquests  in  Gaul  Caesar  sailed  over 
with  an  army  to  the  island  of  Britain,  now  called 
Great  Britain.  The  natives  were  a  wild,  fierce  peo- 
ple, and  they  fought  bravely  against  Caesar  and  his 
army.  But  the  Romans  were  victorious,  and  they 
took  possession  of  Britain,  and  for  over  four  hun- 
dred years  the  island  was  a  part  of  the  Roman 
Empire. 

n 

CiESAR  was  engaged  eight  years  in  Ms  wars  in 
Gaul  and  Britain.  It  is  said  that  during  these 
years  he  conquered  three  hundred  tribes  or  nations, 
took  eight  hundred  cities,  fought  battles  with  three 


188  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

millions  of  men  and  made  a  million  prisoners.  He 
obtained  immense  quantities  of  treasure  in  the  con- 
quered lands,  and  lie  himself,  as  commander  of  the 
victorious  armies,  kept  a  large  part  of  it  as  his 
own  share,  so  that  lie  became  very  rich. 

Caesar's  wonderful  victories  made  him  a  great 
man  in  Rome.  The  plebeians  rejoiced  at  the  success 
of  their  leader  and  favorite  and  were  ready  to 
welcome  him  with  tlie  highest  honors  whenever  he 
should  return  to  the  city. 

But  Caesar  had  now  made  up  his  mind  to  become 
the  master  of  Rome.  So  he  began  to  plan  and  to 
work  to  destroy  the  power  of  Pompey,  who  at  that 
time  ruled  public  affairs  in  Rome  almost  completely. 

In  order  to  gain  still  greater  favor  Caesar  sent  a 
number  of  his  friends  to  Rome  to  spend  immense 
sums  of  money  in  various  ways  to  please  the  people. 
They  got  up  splendid  games  and  feasts ;  they  divided 
large  quantities  of  corn  among  the  poor ;  and  they 
paid  the  debts  of  hundreds  of  men  who  had  in- 
fluence among  the  plebeians.  The  people  knew 
that  all  this  was  done  at  Caesar's  expense,  and  they 
praised  and  loved  him  for  his  generosity. 

Pompey,  with  a  great  show  of  authority,  now 
ordered  Caesar  to  disband  his  army  and  send  the 
soldiers  to  their  homes,  for  he  said  that  Caesar  had 
no  need  of  an  army  any  longer,  as  he  had  finished 


JULIUS   C^SAR 


189 


his  work  in  Gaul.     But  Pompey,  too,  had  an  army 
at  this   time   in   Spain,  and   Caesar   said   to   him: 

"If  you  will  dis- 
band your  army,  I 
will  disband  mine." 

This  made  Pompey 
v^ery  angry,  and  he 
got  the  Senate  to  pass 
a  law  declaring  that 
Caesar  was  a  public 
enemy  and  must  be 
put  down.  One  sen- 
ator asked  Pompey 
what  he  should  do  if 
Caesar  should  come 
to  Rome  with  his 
army. 

"What  should  I 
do  ? "  cried  Pompey, 
in  a  tone  of  contempt. 
"  AYhy,  I  have  only  to 

stamp  my  foot  and  thousands  of  men  will  spring 
up  to  march  under  my  orders." 

At  that  time  Caesar  was  with  his  army  in  the 
northern  part  of  Italy.  When  he  heard  what  the 
Senate  had  done  he  called  his  soldiers  together  and 
made  an  eloquent  speech.     He  told  them  of  the  in- 


ONE  OF  Cesar's  soldiers 


190  FAMOUS   MEN   OF   ROME 

Justice  that  Pompey  and  the  Senate  had  done  to 
him,  and  he  concluded  by  saying : 

"  This  is  my  reward  for  all  that  I  have  done  for 
my  country.  But  I  shall  go  to  Eome  and  establish 
an  honest  government  of  the  people,  if  you,  my 
brave  soldiers,  will  be  faithful  to  me." 

The  soldiers  answered  with  a  loud  shout,  saying : 

"  We  shall  be  faithful  to  you.  We  will  stand  by 
you  to  the  last." 

Caesar  then  started  with  his  army  and  marched 
rapidly  through  northern  Italy  until  he  came  to 
the  banks  of  a  little  river,  at  that  time  called  the 
Ru'bi-con,  and  known  as  the  southern  boundary  of 
Gaul.  What  river  this  was  no  one  can  now  exactly 
tell,  but  it  is  supposed  that  it  was  some  one  of 
several  small  rivers  which  flow  into  the  Adriatic 
Sea  south  of  the  River  Po. 

Caesar  halted  his  army  at  the  Rubicon  and  for- 
bade any  one  to  cross  it  until  he  gave  the  order. 
He  stood  for  some  time  on  the  banks  in  deep 
thought,  as  if  trying  to  decide  whether  he  should 
cross  the  river  and  proceed,  or  give  up  his  danger- 
ous undertaking.  He  was  still  within  his  own  ter- 
ritory as  commander  of  Gaul ;  if  he  should  cross  the 
Rubicon  he  would  be  on  territory  directly  under 
the  government  of  the  officers  at  Rome.  By  law  it 
was  made  an  act  of  treason,  to  be  punished  with 


JULIUS   C^SAR  191 

death,  for  any  Roman  general  to  enter  this  territory 
with,  an  army,  without  permission  of  the  Senate. 
"  We  can  retreat  now,"  said  Caesar  to  some  of  his 


C^SAR   CROSSING   THE  RUBICON 


officers  who  stood  near  him ,  "  but  once  across  the 
Kubicon  it  will  be  too  late  to  draw  back." 

While  Caesar  was  talking  a  shepherd  came  along 


192  FAMOUS  MEN    OF  ROME 

from  a  field  close  by,  playing  lively  music  on  a  reed 
pipe.  The  soldiers  gathered  around  him  to  listen  to 
the  music,  and  some  of  them  began  to  dance.  One 
of  Caesar's  trumpeters  stood  among  the  soldiers, 
with  his  trumpet  in  his  hand.  The  shepherd  saw 
the  trumpet,  suddenly  seized  it  and  walked  to 
the  bridge  over  tlie  Rubicon,  which  was  but  a  few 
steps  off.  Then  he  put  the  trumpet  to  his  lips, 
sounded  the  stirring  notes  for  an  advance  of  the 
troops  and  began  to  march  aci'oss  the  bridge. 

"A  sign  from  the  gods  !  "  shouted  Caesar.  '^Let 
us  go  where  we  are  thus  called.  The  die  is 
cast ! " 

So  saying,  he  turned  his  horse  right  into  the 
stream  and  rode  across  the  Rubicon,  followed  by 
his  army.  It  was  a  daring  thing  even  for  Caesar  to 
do,  and  the  phrases,  "  he  has  crossed  the  Rubicon," 
"  the  die  is  cast,"  are  now  often  used  to  mean  that  a 
bold  or  dangerous  step  has  been  taken  from  which 
there  is  no  dra\ving  back. 

There  was  no  one  to  oppose  Caesar  as  he  marched 
through  Italy.  On  the  contrary,  city  after  city  sur- 
rendered to  him.  There  was  very  little  fighting.  In 
most  places  the  people  seemed  glad  to  have  him  as 
their  ruler,  and  gave  him  a  warm  welcome  and 
feasted  his  soldiers.  He  had  only  words  of  kind- 
ness for  every  one,  even  for  those  who  were  against 


JULIUS   C^SAR  193 

him,  and  lie  won  hosts  of  friends  and  supporters 
all  along  Lis  route. 

There  was  great  alarm  at  Eome  when  it  was 
learned  that  Caesar  was  advancing  toward  the  city. 
The  supporters  of  Pompej  became  terrified,  and  the 
rich  nobles  gathered  up  their  money  and  other 
valuables  and  fled.  Pompey  could  do  nothing  to 
defend  the  city  against  Caesar,  and  at  last  he  too 
ran  away.  He  went  to  Greece  to  raise  an  army 
to  fight  Caesar. 

When  Caesar  arrived  at  E-ome  he  met  with  no  op- 
position. He  entered  the  city  amid  shouts  of  wel- 
come from  the  people.  He  harmed  no  one,  but  he 
set  up  a  new  government  and  organized  a  new 
Senate.  He  was  now  the  master  spirit  of  the  re- 
public. 

After  arranging  everything  to  his  satisfaction  in 
Rome,  he  went  to  Spain  and  defeated  Pompey 's 
generals  there.  Then  he  came  back  and  turned  his 
attention  to  Pompey  himself. 

In  the  meantime  Pompey  had  been  very  busy 
gathering  an  army  in  the  eastern  countries  controlled 
by  Rome.  In  one  way  and  another  he  collected 
fifty  thousand  men.  They  were  stationed  on  the 
coasts  of  Macedonia  and  Greece.  There  they  waited 
for  Caesar  and  his  army  to  cross  the  Adriatic  Sea 
to  give  them  battle. 


194  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

Caesar  had  a  great  deal  of  trouble  in  getting  across 
the  stormy  sea  Avith  his  army  of  forty  thousand 
soldiers,  but  at  last  a  landing  was  made  in  Greece. 
Then  the  two  armies  had  some  skirmishing,  but  no 
great  battle. 

This  continued  for  months.  Pompey  at  one  time 
would  gain  the  advantage,  and  Caesar  at  another 
time.  But  it  was  evident  that  neither  of  the  great 
rivals  was  in  any  hurry  to  risk  the  chance  of  defeat 
in  a  general  battle.  They  knew  well  that  such  a  de- 
feat would  entirely  ruin  the  one  that  was  defeated. 

But  at  last  the  two  armies  met  for  battle  on. the 
plain  of  Phar-sa'li-a,  in  Thessaly,  a  district  of  Greece. 
The  soldiers  on  both  sides  were  mostly  armed  with 
spears  and  broadswords.  Some  carried  slings  to 
hurl  large  stones,  and  others  had  bows  and  arrows. 
The  greater  part  of  the  fighting,  however,  was  done 
with  swords. 

Eighty  thousand  men  were  engaged  in  the  battle, 
about  forty  thousand  on  each  side.  It  was  a  brave, 
heroic  struo-ale  and  lasted  for  hours.  Both  armies 
fought  splendidly,  but  in  the  end  Pompey's  army 
was  forced  back  to  its  camp,  after  dreadful  slaughter. 
For  a  few  minutes  the  camp  was  bravely  defended 
against  the  attacks  of  Caesar's  soldiers  and  then  had 
to  be  abandoned.  The  battle  did  not  last  lono^  after 
this.      Pompey's  great  army  was  utterly  beaten. 


JULIIJS  C^SAR  195 

Pompey  himself,  with  a  few  followers,  fled  to  the 
seashore  and  sailed  across  the  Mediterranean  to 
Egypt.  There  he  was  treacherously  murdered  by 
order  of  Ptolemy,  the  Egyptian  king. 

Caesar  gained  a  splendid  victory  at  Pharsalia,  but 
he  was  not  yet  master  of  the  Roman  Empire.  The 
rich  nobles  and  senators  formed  armies  to  fight  him 
in  Asia  Minor,  Africa,  and  Spain.  Caesar  went  with 
an  army  to  Asia  Minor,  attacked  his  enemies,  and 
won  a  great  battle  at  a  place  called  Ze'la.  This 
victory  was  so  quickly  gained  that  in  sending  news 
of  it  to  Rome  Caesar  wrote  the  famous  despatch, 
" Veni,  vidi,  vicij^  which  is,  in  English,  " I  camej  1 
saw,  I  conquered^ 

He  had  equal  success  in  Africa  and  Spain.  In 
a  very  short  time  he  destroyed  the  armies  opposed 
to  him.  Then  he  returned  to  Rome  and  had  the 
grandest  Triumph  ever  seen  in  the  city. 

The  celebration  lasted  four  days,  and  during  that 
time  Rome  was  in  a  high  state  of  pleasant  excite- 
ment. Thousands  of  persons  from  the  surrounding, 
country  came  to  the  city  to  witness  the  magnificent 
show. 

On  each  day  there  were  splendid  processions,  in 
which  there  were  great  numbers  of  gorgeous  chariots, 
drawn  by  beautiful  horses  and  filled  with  Caesar's 
principal  officers.     Behind  them  marched  hundreds 


196  FAMOUS  MEN   OF   ROIHE 

of  soldiers  bearing  banners  on  wbicb  Avere  pictured 
scenes  from  Caesar's  important  battles.  Herds  of 
elephants  and  camels  from  Asia  and  Africa  ap- 
peared in  the  procession,  and  there  were  also  long 
lines  of  prisoners  carrying  valuable  articles  obtained 
by  Caesar  in  the  lands  he  had  conquered. 

In  addition  to  the  processions  many  kinds  of 
entertainments  were  provided  for  the  people,  such 
as  plays,  circus  exhibitions,  combats  between  glad- 
iators, wild-beast  hunts,  and  chariot  races.  There 
were  also  feasts  served  to  all  the  people  of  the 
city.  It  was  a  time  of  unbounded  enjoyment  and 
delighted  the  Romans  so  much  that  they  became 
very  devoted  to  Caesar. 

There  was  now  no  opposition  to  him.  Both  the 
nobles  and  the  plebeians  were  willing,  and  even  glad, 
to  have  him  as  their  ruler.  He  was  chosen  dicta- 
tor for  life  and  put  in  command  of  all  the  armies 
of  the  Empire.  He  was  called  imperator^  which 
means  emperor. 

The  people  gave  him  the  title  of  Father  of  Ms 
Country.  Statues  of  him  were  erected  in  the  public 
buildings  and  squares.  A  grand  chair,  made  some- 
what like  a  throne,  was  placed  in  the  Senate  cham- 
ber, and  whenever  he  came  to  listen  to  the  debates 
he  sat  in  this  chair,  as  if  he  were  king. 

Caesar  now  had  laws  passed  making  many  im- 


JULIUS  C^SAB  197 

provements  in  the  government.  He  also  carried 
out  a  number  of  plans  to  make  Rome  of  more  im 
portance  as  a  commercial  city.  He  erected  mag- 
nificent buildings,  made  aqueducts  to  bring  plenty 
of  water  to  tlie  city,  established  a  great  library, 
and  did  many  other  things  which  were  of  much 
benefit  to  the  people. 

One  of  the  most  useful  things  he  did  was  to 
make  a  new  calendar.  Before  his  time  the  Romans 
had  not  a  very  clear  knowledge  as  to  the  length  of 
a  year.  At  one  time  they  had  only  ten  months  in 
their  year.  Afterwards  they  had  twelve,  but  they 
counted  only  365  days  in  every  year.  They  did  not 
know  or  they  did  not  give  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  real  length  of  a  year  is  365  days,  5  hours,  48 
minutes,  50  seconds.  They  did  not  reckon  the 
extra  hours,  minutes,  and  seconds,  and  so  their  calen- 
dar got  quite  wrong  in  the  course  of  a  number  of 
years.  Caesar  corrected  the  error  by  making  one 
year  in  every  four  have  366  days,  and  the  calendar 
thus  corrected  was  called  tne  Julian  Calendar, 

Caesar  now  possessed  all  the  glory  and  power  of 
a  king,  and  it  began  to  be  believed  that  he  wanted 
to  be  a  king  in  reality.  The  Romans  had  not  had 
a  king  for  five  hundred  years  and  would  not  have 
one.  Their  feeling  against  kings  was  so  strong 
that  none  of  the  men  who  had  ruled  Rome,  at  times 


198  FAMOUS  MEN   OP  ROME 

with  almost  tingly  power,  had  ever  dared  to  call 
himself  king. 

One  day  an  intimate  friend  of  Caesar  saluted 
him  in  public  as  king.     Caesar  replied : 

"  I  am  not  king,  but  only  Caesar." 

Some  of  the  nobles,  however,  felt  certain  that  he 
meant  to  make  himself  king,  and  they  formed  a 
plot  to  kill  him  in  the  Senate  house,  on  the  Ides 
of  March,  that  is,  on  the  fifteenth  of  March.  The 
Romans  had  certain  days  in  their  months  which 
they  called  Kalends,  Nones,  and  Ides. 

One  of  the  persons  who  made  the  plot  against 
Caesar  was  Junius  Brutus,  a  highly  respected 
Roman.  It  is  said  that  he  was  a  descendant  of  the 
Junius  Brutus  who,  five  centuries  before,  had 
helped  to  overthrow  the  tyrant  King  Tarquin. 
Brutus  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Caesar,  but 
he  thought  that  ,  Caesar  intended  to  destroy  the 
Republic  by  making  himself  king,  and  therefore 
he  joined  the  plot  against  him. 

As  the  Ides  of  March  drew  near  the  plan  for 
putting  Caesar  to  death  was  carefully  arranged  and 
settled.  An  augur,  or  fortune-teller,  one  day 
stopped  Caesar  in  the  street  and  said  to  him, 
'^  Beware  the  Ides  of  March  ! "  but  the  great  con- 
queror laughed  at  the  warning. 

On  the  appointed   day  the  plotters  met  in  the 


200  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROMB 

Senate  cTiamber,  ready  to  do  the  wicked  deed  they 
had  planned.  When  Caesar  entered  the  chamber, 
all  present  rose  to  greet  him.  He  bowed  and 
smiled  pleasantly  to  the  people  and  took  his 
usual  seat.     Now  was  the  fatal  moment. 

As  had  been  arranged,  one  of  the  plotters  went 
up  to  him  with  a  request  for  the  pardon  of  a 
prisoner.  Then  the  rest  crowded  around  his  chair, 
as  if  to  urge  him  to  grant  the  request.  Caesar 
seemed  somewhat  alarmed  at  the  crowd  and  rose 
from  his  chair.  At  this  moment  he  was  stabbed 
in  the  side  with  a  sword.  Then  there  were  loud 
outcries  in  the  chamber,  and  all  was  excitement 
and  confusion. 

Caesar  used  his  stylus  to  defend  himself.  The 
stylus  was  an  instrument  made  of  iron,  with  a  sharp 
point  on  one  end  for  writing  on  wax  tablets,  and 
with  the  other  end  smooth,  for  rubbing  out  a  word 
when  necessary.  For  writing  on  parchment  or 
paper  a  ]3en  made  of  reed  was  used.  Educated 
Romans  carried  their  stylus  and  tablet  in  their 
pockets.  From  the  name  of  the  instrument  the 
word  style  is  now  used  to  mean  a  particular  man- 
ner of  writing. 

Caesar  had  nothing  but  his  stylus  to  defend 
himself  with.  He  fought  bravely,  until  he  saw 
his  friend  Brutus  coming  to  strike  him.     Then  he 


202  FAMOUS  MEN   OF   ROME 

cried  out,  "You,  too,  Brutus!'   and   made  no  fur- 
ther resistance. 

They  stabbed  him  until  he  fell  dead.  Then 
they  went  out  of  the  Senate  and  through  the 
streets  of  Kome  with  Brutus  at  their  head.  They 
told  the  people  what  they  had  done  and  rejoiced 
at  the  deed.  They  said  the  death  of  Caesar  saved 
the  Roman  Rejiublic. 

But  the  people  were  very  angry  and  threatened 
to  put  to  death  those  who  had  killed  Caesar.  They 
would  have  done  this  only  that  Brutus  and  his 
friends  fled  from  the  city. 

There  was  a  grand  funeral  service  in  honor  of 
Caesar.  The  body  was  laid  in  the  Forum,  and  a 
famous  Roman  named  Mark  Antony  made  an 
eloquent  funeral  speech  over  it.  He  praised  Caesar 
and  spoke  so  bitterly  against  Brutus  and  his  party 
that  the  people  were  more  angry  than  ever.  This 
Mark  AntoiSy  was  afterwards  a  very  powerful  man 
in  Rome. 

Caesar  died  forty-four  years  before  Chript  was 
born.  Of  course  his  death  did  not  save  the  Roman 
Republic.  It  had,  indeed,  already  ceased  to  exist  in 
all  but  the  name.  Rome  was  no  longer  a  republic, 
but  an  empire  and,  as  we  shall  see,  the  family  of 
Caesar  gave  it  its  first  emperor.  All  the  emperors 
adopted  the  name  of  Caesar  as  part  of  their  title. 


CICERO 


Marcus  Tul'li-us  Cic'e-ro  was  a  prominent  man 
at  Rome  for  some  time  in  the  latter  years  of  the  Re- 
public. He  was  a  great 
orator — one  of  the  great- 
est the  world  has  ever 
known.  His  principal 
speeches  have  been  pre- 
served and  are  read  and 
studied  at  the  present 
day. 

He  often  spoke  in  the 
Forum  before  large  audi- 
ences, and  by  his  wonder- 
ful eloquence  delighted 
all  who  heard  him.    Both 

the  nobles  and  plebeians  admired  him  for  his  learn- 
ing, his  oratory,  and  his  manly  qualities. 

Cicero  was  a  tall,  graceful  man,  with  an  intel- 
lectual and  rather  handsome  face,  and  very  bright, 


CICERO 


204  FAMOUS  MEN  OF   ROME 

black  eyes.  He  was  so  great  a  favorite  that  he  was 
chosen  to  fill  several  public  offices  and  at  last  was 
elected  consul. 

In  the  early  part  of  his  year  as  consul  there  was 
a  mysterious  plot  formed  in  Rome  by  some  nobles 
of  bad  character,  old  soldiers,  and  others  ready  for 
any  mischief.  What  their  real  object  was  no  one 
seemed  to  know.  But  it  was  said  that  the  con- 
spirators wanted  to  overthrow  the  government  and 
set  up  a  new  one  of  their  own. 

There  was  a  senator  named  Ser'gi-us  Cat'i-line,  and 
many  believed  that  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  plot. 
He  had  a  bad  reputation,  and  for  some  time  the 
other  senators  had  looked  upon  him  with  suspicion. 
There  was  no  proof,  however,  that  he  was  engaged 
in  any  unlawful  ^proceedings,  so  no  charge  could  be 
made  against  him. 

But  one  day  a  young  woman,  named  Fulvia,  came 
to  Cicero  and  gave  him  some  important  information 
about  the  plot  and  Catiline's  part  in  it.  She  said 
that  she  had  a  lover  who  was  one  of  the  plotters, 
and  that  he  had  told  her  some  of  their  secrets.  She 
was  greatly  frightened,  for  she  thought  that  there 
might  be  bloodshed  in  Rome  if  the  plot  went  on, 
and  she  felt  it  her  duty  to  tell  Cicero  about  it. 

Cicero  immediately  went  to  the  Senate  and  made 
a  powerful  speech.     He  charged  Catiline  with  being 


206  FAMOUS  MEN   OF  ROME 

the  leading  person  in  a  plot  to  overthrow  the  gov- 
ernment. There  was  great  excitement  at  his  words. 
Catiline  was  present,  and  he  boldly  denied  the 
charge    and  defied  Cicero  to  prove  it. 

"  If  Consul  Cicero  is  afraid  of  my  doing  harm  in 
Rome,"  said  he,  "  I  am  willing  to  place  myself  as  a 
prisoner  in  the  hands  of  any  senator." 

"I  do  not  think  it  is  safe  to  have  you  in  the 
city,"  replied  Cicero  ,  "  and  do  you  expect  any  one 
to  take  you  into  his  house  ?  " 

After  a  great  deal  of  exciting  talk  the  Senate 
laid  aside  the  charges  against  Catiline  for  a  while. 

II 

A  FEW  weeks  later,  in  a  city  near  Rome,  there 
was  an  uprising  of  the  people  against  the  public 
officers.  This  caused  a  great  deal  of  alarm,  and 
Cicero  said  it  was  the  beginning  of  the  plot  that  he 
had  charged  Catiline  with  forming. 

Then  he  hurried  to  the  Senate,  where  Catiline 
was,  and  made  a  great  speech  against  him.  He 
called  him  a  traitor  to  his  country.  Catiline  turned 
pale  and  began  to  tremble.  He  attempted  to  speak, 
but  the  senators  shouted,  and  hooted  and  hissed 
him.  Those  who  sat  near  him  got  up  in  disgust 
and  took  seats  in  another  part  of  the  chamber,  leav- 


208  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

ing  the  conspirator  sitting  by  himself.  At  last  Cati- 
line ran  out  of  the  Senate,  furious  with  anger,  and 
threatening  revenge.  Then  he  mounted  a  horse  and 
rode  quickly  out  of  the  city. 

Shortly  afterwards  Cicero  learned  the  names  of 
nine  Roman  citizens  who  were  leaders  in  the  plot, 
and  he  had  them  arrested.  He  declared  in  the  Sen- 
ate that  they  had  planned  to  murder  the  senators  and 
the  high  officers,  and  to  burn  Eome.  The  senators 
declared  at  once  that  the  nine  must  die,  and  so 
Cicero  had  them  put  to  death. 

Catiline  now  fled  to  the  mountains  called  the 
Apennines  and  there  raised  a  force  of  twenty  thou- 
sand men.  Two  armies  were  sent  against  him  from 
Rome.  A  battle  took  place,  in  which  Catiline's 
army  was  defeated  and  he  himself  killed. 

Thus  ended  what  was  known  as  the  Catiline 
Conspiracy.  Cicero's  action  in  helping  to  destroy 
it  greatly  pleased  the  Romans.  In  the  Senate  he 
received  much  praise  and  honor.  It  was  even  de- 
clared that  he  was  the  "  Father  of  his  Country." 

Antony  did  not  like  Cicero,  and  when  the  Tri- 
umvirate was  formed,  the  great  orator  was  put  to 
death  by  Antony's  order. 


AUGUSTUS 


I 


The  first  of  tlje  long  line  of  Roman  emperors  was 
Oc-ta'vi-us,  called  in  history  Au-gus'tus.  He  was 
tlie  grand  nephew  of  Julius  Cgesar.  Although  he 
was  scarcely  twenty  years  old  when  Caesar  died,  he 
was  very  ambitious.  He  often  said  that  he  should 
one  day  be  at  the  head  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

"  I  shall  rule  Rome  like  Caesar,"  he  would  say  to 
his  companions.  ''  You  may  laugh  at  me  now,  but 
the  time  will  come  when  I  shall  be  master  of  the 
Romans." 

Shortly  after  Caesar's  death  Octavlus  began  to 
take  an  active  part  in  political  affairs.  At  this  time 
Mark  Antony  was  in  control  of  Rome  and  was 
managing  everything  to  suit  himself.  He  had  been 
an  intimate  friend  of  Caesar  and  commanded  one 
of  his  armies.  He  obtained  a  great  deal  of  power, 
but  he  was  not  liked  very  much  either  by  the  nobles 
or  the  plebeians.  He  was  a  bad  ruler,  and  nobody 
trusted  hinx 
14 


AUGUSTUS  211 

Once  Antony  tried  to  prevent  Octavius  from  be- 
ing elected  a  tribune  of  the  people.  "  I  will  be  a 
tribune  in  spite  of  you,"  Octavius  said,  and  lie  set 
to  work  with  all  his  energy  to  get  the  office.  There 
was  a  severe  struggle  on  election  day,  but  the  boy 
was  successful. 

After  this  Octavius  hated  Antony  and  planned 
in  secret  to  bring  about  his  downfall.  And  he  suc- 
ceeded in  all  he  attempted  to  do.  From  a  tribune 
he  advanced  steadily,  step  by  step,  to  more  impor- 
tant offices.  At  last  he  obtained  command  of  an 
army  and  marched  his  soldiers  to  northern  Italy, 
where  a  war  was  going  on.  While  in  this  i-egion  he 
met  Antony  with  his  army.  The  two  began  to 
quarrel  and  at  last  came  to  blows.  Then  the  army 
of  Octavius  fought  the  army  of  Antony,  and  the 
northern  plains  were  reddened  with  the  blood  of 
the  soldiers. 

When  the  fighting  had  gone  on  for  some  time, 
Octavius  sent  to  Antony  and  asked  him  to  stop  it. 
He  pretended  that  he  was  very  sorry  he  had  begun 
to  fight  with  Antony  and  asked  for  his  friendship. 

"Let  us  be  friends  and  work  together,"  he  said  to 
Antony.  "  By  joining  our  armies  we  shall  be  able 
to  do  some  good." 

The  fighting  was  then  stopped,  and  the  two  gen- 
erals had  a  meeting.     They  agreed  to   unite  their 


212  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

armies,  and  to  invite  another  Roman  general,  named 
Lep'i-dus,  wlio  had  a  large  army,  to  join  them. 
Lepidus  accepted  the  invitation  and  came  to  have 
a  talk  with  Antony  and  Octavius.  They  agreed  to 
a  plan  by  which  they  themselves  were  to  rule  Rome 
together.  This  rule,  or  government,  was  called  a 
triumvirate^  and  Octavius,  Antony,  and  Lepidus 
were  called  triumvirs^  a  word  ^vhich  means  three 
men. 


n 


After  making  all  their  arrangements,  Antony, 
Octavius,  and  Lepidus  started  for  Rome  with  their 
armies  and  took  possession  of  the  city.  Then  they 
began  to  kill  those  that  they  thought  were  their 
enemies.  More  than  two  thousand  Romans  were 
slain.  They  would  have  killed  Brutus  only  that  he 
was  then  in  Greece,  where  he  had  gone  after  Caesar's 
death  to  raise  an  army  to  fight  Antony  and  his 
friends.  Antony  and  Octavius  now  went  with  an 
army  to  Greece  to  fight  Brutus.  Both  armies  met 
at  Philippi,  in  Macedonia,  and  then  there  was  a 
battle  in  which  the  army  of  Brutus  was  defeated. 
After  the  battle  Brutus  requested  one  of  his  slaves 
to  kill  him.     The  slave  refused,  but  when  Brutus 


AUGUSTUS  213 

still  pressed  tim  to  do  it,  lie  held  out  his  sword  and 
Brutus  killed  himself  by  falling  upon  it. 

It  is  told  that  some  time  before  the  battle  of 
Philippi,  as  Brutus  was  sitting  one  night  in  his  tent, 
a  vision  or  spectre  appeared  to  him  and  said,  "  I  am 
thy  evil  genius,  Brutus;  we  shall  meet  again  at 
Philippi."  It  is  also  said  that  the  spectre  again 
appeared  to  Brutus  on  the  night  before  the  battle 
of  Philippi  and  told  him  that  his  death  was  at 
hand. 

There  was  no  one  now  to  interfere  with  Antony, 
Octavius,  and  Lepidus,  and  they  managed  every- 
thing in  Eome  as  they  liked.  They  pretended 
all  the  time  to  have  great  respect  for  the  Senate 
and  the  officers  of  government  who  had  been  elected 
by  the  people. 

After  a  short  time  Antony  went  to  some  of  the 
Eastern  countries  that  were  a  part  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  and  Lepidus  went  to  Africa.  Octavius  was 
left  in  Bome  to  attend  to  its  affairs.  He  then  be- 
gan to  plan  to  get  rid  of  Antony  and  Lepidus,  so 
that  he  might  rule  Home  himself.  With  this  ob- 
ject he  raised  a  great  army  and  determined  to  make 
war  on  his  rivals. 

Sextus  Pompey,  a  son  of  Pompey  the  Great,  was 
at  this  time  in  control  of  the  island  of  Sicily.  He 
was  always  making  trouble  for    Octavius,  and  he 


214  FAMOUS  MEN   OF  ROME 

was  aided  by  Lepidus,  wlio  had  come  from  Africa 
to  Sicily  witli  his  army.  One  day  Octavius  sailed 
over  the  Mediterranean  Sea  to  Sicily,  with  thou- 
sands of  soldiers,  destroyed  the  army  of  Sextus, 
and  induced  the  army  of  Lepidus  to  leave  him. 
Lepidus  was  then  taken  prisoner. 

"  Now  to  put  an  end  to  the  power  of  Antony ! " 
said  Octavius  to  himself,  when  he  returned  to  Rome 
from  Sicily.  So  he  went  to  the  Senate  and  accused 
Antony  of  treason  in  Asia  and  Africa  and  asked 
that  war  be  declared  against  him.  The  Senate 
declared  war,  and  Octavius  began  to  make  great 
preparations  for  it. 

Antony  was  in  Egypt  when  he  heard  of  the  dec- 
laration of  war.  He  laughed  scornfully  at  the  idea 
of  Octavius  being  able  to  beat  him.  Then  he 
gathered  an  army  of  more  than  a  hundred  thousand 
men  and  a  fleet  of  several  hundred  warships,  and 
set  out  to  meet  Octavius.  He  had  with  him  Cle-o- 
pa'tra,  the  beautiful  queen  of  Egypt,  Avhom  he  had 
married,  and  she  had  a  fleet  of  her  own,  numbering 
sixty  ships. 

Octavius  had  about  as  many  soldiers  and  ships  as 
Antony.  The  two  fleets  met  near  a  place  called 
Ac'ti-um,  on  the  coast  of  Greece,  and  fought  a  battle. 
For  several  hours  the  fight  went  on  bravely,  but 
neither  side  gained  any  great  advantage.     Suddenly 


ALGUSTU8  215 

Cleopatra  sailed  away  with  her  fleet,  and  Antony 
quickly  followed  her  with  a  few  ships.  Thus  he 
deserted  his  men  while  they  were  fighting. 

The  sailors  and  soldiers  of  the  deserted  fleet  kept 
on  fighting  for  a  short  time  and  then  surrendered 
to  Octavius.  A  few  days  later  a  part  of  Antony's 
army,  which  was  encamped  on  the  shore  near  Ac- 
tium,  also  surrendered. 

Antony  went  back  to  Egypt  with  Cleopatra.  His 
friends  and  supporters  then  left  him,  and  his  power 
was  gone.  Soon  after,  he  stabbed  himself,  and  so 
died.  It  is  said  that  Cleopatra  died  from  the  bite 
of  a  poisonous  serpent  called  an  asp,  which'  she 
placed  on  her  arm  on  purpose  to  kill  herself. 


Ill 


OcTAYiTJs  continued  to  fight  in  diiferent  parts  of 
the  Empire  until  he  defeated  every  one  who  dared 
to  oppose  him.  Then  he  went  back  to  Rome  with 
a  great  deal  of  glory  and  riches  and  let  it  be  known 
at  once  that  he  intended  to  be  the  master  of  the 
government.  Although  he  pretended  to  protect  the 
rights  of  the  people,  he  made  himself  consul  and 
also  assumed  other  high  offices  which  greatly  added 


216 


FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 


to  Lis  power.     Thousands  of  soldiers  were  at  his  call, 
and  finally  he  became  very  much  like  a  king. 

The  Senate  asked  him  if  he  would  wish  to  be 
appointed  dictator  for  life,  but  he  thought  it  wise 
to  refuse  this  office.  The  Senate  then  gave  him  the 
name  of  Augustus,  which  meant  that  he  was  worthy 

of  respect.  The 
word  augustus 
in  the  Latin  lan- 
guage means  sa- 
cred. He  called 
himself  em- 


peror, 


and. 


as 


Emperor  Caesar 
Augustus,  he 
ruled  the  Ro- 
mans all  the  rest 
of  his  life,  a 
period  of  about 
twenty-seven 
years.  And 
when  Augustus 

became   emperor  the   Eepublic   of    Eome   was   no 

longer  in  existence. 

What  were   known  as   the   Prae-to'ri-an   Guards 

were    organized   by   Augustus   to    protect   himself 

and  uphold  his  authority  as  emperor.     These  guards 


PRJETORIAN  GUARDS 


AUGUSTUS  217 

were  about  ten  thousand  in  number,  and  they  were 
composed  of  the  most  trusty  soldiers  of  the  Empire. 
Each  soldier  had  high  rank  and  large  pay,  and  had 
to  serve  for  many  years.  Whenever  Augustus  ap- 
peared in  public  he  was  attended  by  some  of  the 
Praetorian  guards,  and  they  looked  very  imposing 
with  their  handsome  uniforms  and  glittering  swords 
and  spears. 

Augustus  made  many  good  changes  in  the  gov- 
ernment. He  very  much  improved  the  condition  of 
the  plebeians.  His  principal  ministers  were  two 
able  men  named  A-grip'pa  and  Mse-ce'nas,  who 
gave  him  very  valuable  assistance. 

Whenever  these  wise  men  saw  that  the  Romans 
were  getting  uneasy  and  beginning  to  grumble, 
they  would  advise  the  emperor  to  distribute  corn  or 
money  to  the  poor,  or  to  give  the  people  grand  ex- 
hibitions to  amuse  them.  Augustus  would  follow 
the  advice,  and  by  so  doing  made  himself  veiy 
popular. 

During  his  long  reign  Augustus  had  many  splen- 
did palaces,  temples,  and  other  buildings  erected 
in  Rome,  and  they  made  the  city  very  beautiful. 
Augustus  also  founded  cities  in  various  parts  of  the 
empire.  He  encouraged  literature  and  art  and  was 
himself  an  author.  In  his  time  the  famous  Roman 
poets,  Hor'ace,  Ver'gil,  Va'ri-us,  and  Ovid  lived,  and 


218 


FAMOUS  MEX   OF  ROME 


also  the  great  historian  Livy,  who  wrote  the  history 
of  Rome  from  the  earliest  period  down  to  his  own 
time.  Vergil  was  the  author  of  a  celebrated  poem 
called  the  ^-ne'id,  which  tells  of  the  wanderings 


Vergil  Horace  Varlus      Maecenas        Jaldbert 

VERGIL  HEADING  AT  THE  HOUSE  OP  M^CENAS 

and  adventures  of  the  Trojan  hero  ^neas  mentioned 
on  page  9   of  this  book. 

It  was  in  the  reign  of  Augustus  that  Jesus 
Christ  was  born  in  Bethlehem,  a  town  of  Palestine, 
or  Judea,  in  Southwest  Asia.  Judea  was  then  part 
of  the  Roman  Empii'e. 


NERO 


On"  the  death  of  Augustus  in  the  year  14  a.d.  his 
stepson  Ti-be'ri-us  became  emperor.  He  was  a  cruel 
tyrant.  He  put  to  death  a  great  many  people  only 
because  he  thought  they  were  his  enemies.  A 
Roman  emperor  could  put  to  death  any  one  he 
pleased.  If  he  did  not  like  a  person,  he  would 
charge  him  with  some  crime  and  order  his  soldiers 
to  kill  him.  Tiberius  had  many  people  killed  in 
this  way,  but  he  was  himself  killed  by  the  com- 
mander or  general  of  the  Praetorian  Guard. 

The  next  two  emperors  were  Ca-lig'u-la  and  Clau'- 
di-us.  They  also  were  tyrants  and  put  many  people 
to  death  without  just  cause.  It  is  said  that  Calig- 
ula once  w^ished  that  all  the  Roman  people  together 
had  but  one  head  so  that  he  might  cut  ifc  off  with 
one  blow. 

But  the  next  emperor  was  a  still  greater  tyrant. 
His  name  was  IN^ero.  He  became  emperor  in  the 
year  54  a.d.     He  was  the  son  of  a  wicked  woman 


220 


FAMOUS   MEN  OF   ROME 


named  Ag-rip-pi'na.  This  woman  married  the  Em 
peror  Claudius  and  got  him  to  appoint  her  son 
Nero,  his  successor,  instead  of  his  own  little  son 
Bri-tan'ni-cus.  Then  she  killed  Claudius  by  poison 
and  Nero  became  emperor. 

Nero  was  a  tall,  strong,  good-looking,  bright  youth 

He  was  fond  of  games, 
and  could  play  well  on 
several  musical  instru 
ments.  When  he  first  be 
came  emperor  he  seemed 
to  be  affectionate  and 
kind-hearted,  and  he  did 
a  number  of  good  things. 
Once,  when  he  was  asked 
to  sign  a  warrant  for  the 
execution  of  a  man  con- 
demned to  death,  he  ex- 
claimed : 

"  I  wish  I  had  never  learned  to  write,  for  then  I' 
shouldn't  have'to  sign  away  men's  lives  ! " 
Then  all  the  people  around  him  cried : 
"  What  a  noble  young  man  our  emperor  is !  What 
a  good  heart  he  has  !  '^ 

But  in  a  very  short  time  it  was  found  that  Nero 
was  not  at  all  kind  or  merciful,  but  that  he  was  a 
cruel  and  wicked  man. 


NERO 


NERO  221 

His  mother  Agrippina  expected  that  when  her 
son  was  emperor  she  herself  would  be  the  real  mis- 
tress and  would  rule  the  Roman  Empire  as  she 
pleased.  Nero  was  only  a  boy,  she  thought,  and  he 
would  not  want  to  take  upon  himself  the  cares  and 
burdens  of  government. 

And  for  a  while  Agrippina  did  rule  Eome.  She 
had  a  woman  she  hated  put  to  death  and  she  pun- 
ished several  other  persons  who  had  offended  her. 
She  made  some  of  the  richest  Romans  pay  her  large 
sums  of  money.  But  Nero  soon  put  an  end  to  his 
mother's  power.     One  day  he  said  to  her : 

"  I,  not  you,  am  the  ruler  of  the  Empire.  You  have 
no  right  to  take  any  power  upon  yourself  and  you 
must  not  do  so  again.  Whenever  you  want  anything 
done  you  must  ask  me  to  do  it  for  you." 

"  Ask  you  ? "  cried  Agrippina,  in  a  rage.  "  How 
dare  you  talk  this  way  to  me  who  made  you  em- 
peror ?  You  the  emperor !  You  are  not  the  right- 
ful emperor.  The  true  heir  to  the  Empire  is  your 
stepbrother,  young  Britannicus,  the  son  of  Clau- 
dius !  " 

Then  there  was  a  fierce  quarrel  between  Nero  and 
his  mother,  and  at  last  he  turned  her  out  of  his 
palace  and  ordered  her  never  to  appear  there  again. 

But  what  she  had  said  alarmed  him  very  much. 
He  feared  that  Britannicus  might  be  made  emperor, 


222  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

and  therefore  he  determined  to  get  him  out  of  the 
way  as  soon  as  possible. 

At  this  time  there  was  in  Rome  a  dreadful  woman 
named  Lo-cus'ta,  who  made  poisons  and  sold  them 
secretly  to  any  one  who  wanted  them.  Nero  went 
one  night  to  this  woman  and  said : 

"  Make  me  a  strong  poison — so  strong  that  it  will 
kill  a  person  like  a  flash  of  lightning  ! " 

Locusta  made  the  poison  and  gave  it  to  him.  He 
tried  it  on  a  pig,  and  it  killed  the  animal  in  a  few 
moments. 

"  Ha  ! "  said  he ,  "  this  will  do  the  work." 

Now,  Britannicus  lived  in  the  palace  with  his 
stepbrother  and  next  day,  when  dinner  was  served, 
Nero  put  some  of  the  poison  into  a  cup  of  wine 
which  he  knew  the  boy  was  to  drink.  The  moment 
Britannicus  drank  it,  he  fell  to  the  floor  dead. 
Then  Nero  said  to  the  guests  who  were  at  the  table : 

"Do  not  be  alarmed.  It  is  nothing.  My  poor 
stepbrother  always  was  subject  to  fits."  - 

The  attendants  carried  the  body  of  Britannicus 
out'of  the  room,  and  the  dinner  went  on  gayly. 

II 

A  LITTLE  while  after  he  had  poisoned  his  step- 
brother, Nero  made  up  his  mind  to  get  rid  of  his 


NERO  223 

mother,  ako.  He  was  afraid  that  as  long  as  she 
lived  he  would  not  be  safe  as  emperor.  She  might 
stir  up  the  people  against  him  any  day.  So  he  went 
to  see  her  and  pretended  that  he  was  sorry  he  had 
ill-treated  her.  He  kissed  and  caressed  her  so  af- 
fectionately that  she  was  entirely  deceived. 

Then  the  cruel  son  made  a  plan  to  drown  his 
mother.  He  had  a  ship  so  built  that  by  pulling 
out  certain  bolts  and  pins  it  would  suddenly  fall 
to  pieces  and  sink.  He  then  hired  a  wicked  captain 
and  crew  to  do  his  bidding,  and  got  his  mother  to 
take  a  sail  in  the  ship  down  the  Tiber. 

Agripplna  took  a  maid  with  her  and  went  aboard. 
She  was  in  a  happy  humor,  because  her  son,  as  she 
thought,  was  so  kind  to  her.  When  the  ship  came 
to  a  certain  place  in  the  river  where  the  water  was 
very  deep,  the  sailors  pulled  out  the  bolts  and  pins. 
Then  the  ship  began  to  fall  apart  and  to  sink. 

The  sailors  sprang  into  the  river  to  swim  to  the 
shore,  and  Agrippina  and  her  maid  jumped  over- 
board. The  maid  was  killed  by  a  sailor,  but  Agrip- 
pina was  picked  up  by  the  crew  of  a  fishing  boat. 

Nero  was  greatly  troubled  when  he  learned  of 
his  mother's  escape.  He  believed  that  now  she 
would  certainly  try  to  have  him  removed  from  the 
throne.  So  he  sent  some  men  to  kill  her  in  her 
house,  and  they  did  so  in  a  most  cruel  manner. 


NERO  ^225 

m 

None  of  tlie  emperors  before  Nero  lived  so 
grandly  as  lie  did.  He  had  a  splendid  marble 
palace  at  Rome,  containing  immense  quantities  of 
beautiful  furniture,  gold  and  silver  ornaments,  and 
works  of  art  of  the  finest  kind.  On  the  pleasant 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea  he  had  several 
houses  where  he  lived  in  the  summer  and  autumn 
months.  Wherever  he  went  he  had,  as  his  court  or 
companions,  three  or  four  hundred  richly  dressed 
men  and  women,  with  many  slaves  to  wait  upon 
them.  They  traveled  in  chariots  covered  with  ivory 
and  gold  and  drawn  by  beautiful  horses. 

Nero  was  famous  for  the  splendid  dinners  he 
gave  in  his  palace.  The  rarest  and  most  costly 
food  and  wines  were  spread  upon  the  tables  in 
great  plenty,  and  when  the  feasting  was  over  troops 
of  actors  and  dancers  would  give  performances 
Avhich  lasted  until  late  at  night. 

Sometimes,  at  these  dinners,  Nero  would  play  on 
a  harp  or  flute,  and  sometimes  he  would  act  por- 
tions of  plays  or  recite  poems  which  he  himself 
had  composed.  He  was  a  very  clever  musician 
and  actor,  and  he  wrote  very  good  poetry. 

One  eveninoj  a  fire  broke  out  in  Eomc  and  rao:ed 
furiously  for  a  week.     Half  the  city  was  burned, 

15 


226  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

and  hundreds  of  people  lost  their  lives.  Some  of 
the  Romans  said  that  Nero  had  started  the  fire  and 
had  prevented  it  from  being  put  out.  Most  of  the 
six  days  during  which  the  fire  lasted  he  spent  in  a 
high  tower,  enjoying  the  sight.  He  played  on  his 
harp,  sang  merry  songs,  and  recited  verses  about  the 
burning  of  the  ancient  city  of  Troy. 

After  the  fire  was  put  out  Nero  said  that  it  had 
been  caused  by  the  believers  in  the  religion  of 
Christ.  At  this  time  there  was  a  very  large  num- 
ber of  Christians  in  Rome.  But  most  of  the  Romans 
still  worshiped  their  old  pagan  gods,  and  they  hated 
and  ill-treated  the  Christians. 

When  Nero  declared  that  the  Christians  had 
caused  the  great  fire,  the  people  began  to  persecute 
them  in  a  dreadful  manner.  Many  of  the  Chris- 
tians were  hanged,  some  were  covered  with  pitch 
and  burned,  and  others  were  hunted  to  death  by 
savage  dogs.  During  the  time  of  this  persecution 
the  Apostle  Paul  was  beheaded  and  the  Apostle 
Peter  was  crucified,  as  Christ  had  been  crucified 
thirty-one  years  before. 

After  a  short  time  Rome  was  rebuilt  in  greater 
magnificence  than  before.  Nero  built  for  himself  an 
immense  and  splendid  palace  on  the  famous  Pala- 
tine Hill.  This  palace  contained  so  many  orna- 
ments of  gold  that  it  was  called  the  Golden  House. 


NERO 


227 


In  governing  the  Empire  Nero  was  very  harsli  and 
cruel.  He  often  put  innocent  men  and  women,  and 
even  his  own  friends,  to  death.  He  killed  his  wife 
in  a  fit  of  passion.  He  did  so  many  wicked  things 
that  at  last  the  Romans  got  tired  of  having  such  a 


WOMEN'S  COURT,   ROMAN  HOUSE 


tyrant  to  rule  them,  and  they  formed  a  plot  to  de- 
throne him  and  make  some  one  else  their  emperor. 

But  the  plot  came  to  nothing,  because  a  slave  who 
had  heard  of  it  went  to  Nero  and  told  him  all  about 
it.  The  Praetorian  Guards  seized  the  leading  plot- 
ters and  put  them  to  death.  Nero  then  became 
more  wicked  than  he  had  been  before.  He  even 
accused  his  old  tutor  Seneca,  and  the  famous  poet 


228  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

Lucan,  of  taking  part  in  the  plot  against  Lim,  and 
lie  sent  tliem  an  order  to  put  themselves  to  death. 
Seneca  was  a  very  good  man  and  a  great  writer. 
When  he  received  the  cruel  order  from  Nero,  he 
knew  that  if  he  did  not  obey  it  the  tyrant  would 
send  some  one  to  kill  him,  so  he  had  the  veins  of 
his  arms  cut  open  and  he  died  after  much  suffering. 
Lucan  also  obeyed  the  tyrant's  order.  While  dying 
he  repeated  lines  from  one  of  his  own  poems. 

IV 

This  wicked  emperor  reigned  fourteen  years.  But 
at  last  there  was  a  rebellion  against  him,  and  the 
soldiers  elected  Galba,  the  Roman  governor  of  Spain, 
to  be  the  new  emperor. 

Then  Nero  acted  like  a  miserable  coward.  He 
was  afraid  to  stay  any  longer  in  Rome,  for  most  of 
the  people  hated  him  and  favored  Galba.  So  he 
mounted  a  horse  and  rode  out  of  the  city  to  the 
home  of  a  trusty  slave.  But  while  he  was  there 
he  received  word  that  the  Senate  had  condemned 
him  to  death  and  that  horsemen  had  been  sent  out 
to  capture  him. 

"  Now  dig  a  grave  for  me,"  he  said  to  the  slave, 
"  and  I  will  kill  myself ! " 

At  this  moment  the  galloping  of  horses  was  heard. 


NERO 

"Hark !  They  are  coming  to  kill  you,"  cried  the 
slave.  "Use  the  dagger  while  it  is  time  and  save 
yourself  from  disgrace  ! " 

With  trembling   hand   Nero  placed  his  dagger 


Kaempfer 


DEATH  OP  NEliO 


at  his  throat,  but  did  not  have  the  courage  to  use 
it.  The  slave  then  seized  it  and  plunged  it  into 
the  emperor's  throat,  and  the  wicked  Nero  fell 
dead. 


TITUS 

BrrRnra  tte  two  years  that  followed  the  death  of 
Nero,  there  were  three  emperors,  Galba,  Otho,  and 
Vi-terii-us.  They  were  generals  of  Roman  armies, 
and  were  made  emperors  by  their  soldiers.  But 
they  reigned  only  a  few  months  each,  and  they  did 
nothing  of  importance. 

Vitellius  was  a  glutton.  He  took  pleasure  only 
in  eating  and  drinking.  He  would  often  visit  the 
houses  of  rich  Romans  without  invitation  and  take 
breakfast  with  one,  dinner  with  another,  and  supper 
with  another.  After  breakfast  he  thought  only 
about  dinner ;  and  when  dinner  was  over  he  began 
to  think  of  what  he  would  have  for  supper. 

The  next  emperor  was  Titus  Flavins  Vespasian, 
commonly  called  Vespasian.  He  also  was  an  army 
general.  When  he  was  made  emperor  by  his 
soldiers  he  was  in  Palestine.  He  had  been  sent 
there  by  Nero  with  an  army  to  punish  the  Jews 
who  had  rebelled  against  Rome.     As  soon  as  he 


TITUS 


231 


was  declared  emperor  lie  returned  to  Italy  and 
left  his  son  Titus  Flavins,  called  in  liistory  simply 
Titus,  to  carry  on  tlie  ^var  against  the  Jews. 

Titus  captured  Jerusalem  after  a  siege  of  six 
months,  and  his  soldiers  took  possession  of  all 
the   valuable    things  they  could  find.     Then  they 


— ^ii*" 

*s 

m^r^i 

JL  ,^ 

'r- 

■If  .^HH.! 

mI^-  ^^i 

aS^^Ma^ 

^p^Pt-^'-^-'^^S 

immk^T  ^|y^          ^ 

tm^ 

uKb^'  -^ 

ARCH  OP  TITUS 


burned  the  city  to  the  ground.  The  famous  temple 
was  also  destroyed,  and  thus  was  fulfilled  the 
prophecy  of  Christ  that  not  one  stone  of  the 
building  should  be  left  upon  another.  When 
Titus  returned  to  Eome  he  had  a  grand  Triumph, 
and  a  beautiful  arch  was  built  in  his  honor.  This 
arch  is  still  in  existence. 


232 


FAMOUS  MEN   OF   ROME 


II 

Vespasian  died  in  79  a.d.,  and  tlien  Titus  became 
emperor.  One  of  the  remarkable  things  Titus  did 
during  his  reign  was  to  finish  the  Colosseum,  which 
had  been  begun  by  his  father. 


THE  COLOSSEUM  AS  IT  LOOKS  TO-DAY 


From,  a  photograp/i. 


The  Colosseum  was  the  largest  theatre  in  the 
world.  It  had  seats  for  over  80,000  people.  It 
was  first  called  the  Flavian  Amphitheatre,  from  the 
family  name  of  the  emperors  who  built  it.     Inside 


TITUS  233 

it  had  seats  all  round  the  ring,  or  arena,  and  as  the 
word  ampM  means  around^  they  called  the  great 
building  an  amphitheatre.  In  later  times  it  got 
the  name  of  Colosseum.  The  Greeks  used  the  word 
colossus  as  a  name  for  any  very  large  statue,  and 
because  the  Flavian  Amphitheatre  was  so  large  it 
was  called  the  Colosseum.  In  our  own  language 
we  use  the  word  colossal  to  describe  anything  of 
immense  size. 

In  the  Colosseum  they  had  many  kinds  of  amuse- 
ments. When  it  was  first  opened  the  shows  and 
games  lasted  for  a  hundred  days,  and  5,000  wild 
beasts  were  killed  in  the  arena  by  gladiators.  The 
arena  was  a  vast  space  fenced  round  about  with  a 
strong  wall,  and  around  it  were  circular  tiers  or  rows 
of  seats,  one  behind  the  other,  like  steps  of  stairs. 
Sometimes  the  arena  was  turned  into  a  lake  by  let- 
ting water  flow  into  it  from  pipes.  Then  they  put 
ships  upon  it  and  had  sham  fights  in  imitation  of  a 
battle  at  sea.  This  sort  of  show  was  called  naumor 
cilia,  which  means  a  fight  with  ships.  It  was  first 
introduced  into  Rome  by  Julius  Caesar,  who  had  a 
lake  dug  for  the  purpose  in  the  Campus  Martins. 

The  Colosseum  is  still  in  existence,  but  it  is  partly 
in  ruins.  From  the  picture,  which  shows  it  as  it 
now  is,  we  can  form  an  idea  of  how  grand  a  build- 
ing it  once  was. 


TITUS  235 

Besides  finishing  the  Colosseum,  the  Emperor 
Titus  also  built  splendid  baths.  They  were  called 
the  Baths  of  Titus.  The  Eomans  were  very  fond 
of  baths.  Wealthy  citizens  used  to  bathe  several 
times  eveiy  day,  and  often  they  spent  the  greater 
part  of  the  day  at  the  baths,  where  there  were  finely 
furnished  rooms. 

It  was  in  the  reign  of  Titus  that  the  cities  of 
Pom-pe'ii  (-pa'yi)  and  Hercu-la'ne-um,  in  the  south  of 
Italy,  were  destroyed  by  an  eruption  of  Mount  Vesu- 
vius. A  famous  Roman  author,  Pliny  the  Younger, 
saw  the  eruption  from  a  distance  and  wrote  a  descrip- 
tion of  it.  He  tells  that  a  fiery  cloud  of  cinders, 
stones,  and  ashes  burst  from  the  top  of  the  mountain 
and  rained  down  upon  the  country  all  round,  destroy- 
ing towns  and  villages  and  people.  The  ruins  of 
Herculaneum  were  accidentally  discovered  by  work- 
men in  1709,  and  the  ruins  of  Pompeii  were  dis- 
covered some  years  later. 

Titus  was  a  very  good  emperor.  He  always  did 
everything  he  could  for  the  welfare  and  happiness 
of  the  people,  and  he  was  so  much  liked  by  every- 
body that  he  was  called  the  "  Delight  of  Mankind." 
It  is  said  that  one  night  he  thought  he  had  done 
nothing  during  that  day  for  the  good  of  any  person, 
and  that  he  cried  out,  "  I  have  lost  a  day." 


TRAJAN 


Ojt  tlie  deatli  of  Titus  his  brother  Domitian  be- 
came emperor.  He  was  a  very  bad  man  and  took 
pleasure  only  in  doing  cruel  and  wicked  things.  It 
is  said  that  one  of  his  amusements  was  catching  flies 
and  sticking  them  with  pins.  Once  when  a  visitor 
called  and  inquired  whether  there  was  any  one  with 
the  emperor,  the  servant  answered,  '^JS'o,  not  even 
a  %."_ 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  such  an  emperor 
could  have  been  liked  by  the  people.  Even  his 
soldiers  hated  him,  and  at  last  they  formed  a  plot 
against  his  life  and  killed  him  in  his  own  palace. 

Nerva,  who  had  been  a  favorite  of  Nero,  was  the 
next  emperor,  but  he  was  an  old  man  and  died  after 
a  reign  of  two  years.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
adopted  son  Trajan,  who  became  emperor  in  98  a.d. 
and  reigned  for  nineteen  years. 

Trajan  was  a  good  man  and  a  brave  soldier.  At 
the  time  he  became  emperor  he  was  governor  of  one 


TRAJAN 


237 


of  the  Roman  territories  or  provinces  in  Germany 
along  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  and  he  resided  at 
Colonia,  now  called  Cologne. 

Not  long  after  his  return  to  Rome  Trajan  was 
engaged  in  a  war  with  the  King  of  Dacia.  This 
was  the  name  of  the 
country  lying  north  of 
the  Danube  River.  The 
greater  part  of  it  is  now 
called  Hungary.  The 
Dacian  king,  whose  name 
was  De-ceb'a-lus,  had  fre- 
quently made  raids  into 
neighboring  countries 
which  belonged  to  Rome, 
and  robbed  and  killed 
many   of    the   people. 

Trajan  resolved  to  pun- 
ish Decebalus,  and  so  he 
set  out  with  a  large  army 

and  marched  into  Dacia.  The  war  continued  three 
years,  for  the  Dacians  were  brave  and  skillful  fight- 
ers ;  but  at  last  Decebalus  was  defeated  in  a  great 
battle  and  he  had  to  come  to  Trajan  and  humbly 
beg  for  peace.  He  agreed  to  be  a  vassal  of  Rome; 
that  is,  to  hold  his  kingdom  subject  to  the  control 
of  the  Roman  emperors. 


TRAJAN 


238  FAMOUS   MEN   OF   ROME 

But  in  less  than  a  year  Decebalus  again  attacked 
his  Roman  neighbors,  and  Trajan  had  again  to  march 
against  him  with  an  army.  The  Dacians  were  once 
more  defeated  in  a  great  battle,  and  Decebalus, 
after  failing  in  an  attempt  to  escape,  put  an  end 
to  his  own  life.  Dacia  was  then  made  a  Roman 
province. 

During  this  year  Trajan  built  a  remarkable  bridge 
across  the  Danube.  Before  that  time  bridges  were 
built  of  wood,  but  in  the  bridge  over  the  Danube 
Trajan  used  stone  for  the  piers,  which  ^vere  of  great 
size.  The  bridge  had  twenty-two  arches,  and  its 
ruins,  which  are  still  to  be  seen,  show  what  a  won- 
derful work  it  w^as. 

When  Trajan  returned  to  Rome  after  his  victory 
over  Decebalus  he  had  a  grand  Triumph,  and  there 
were  games  and  shows  in  his  honor  which  lasted  a 
hundred  and  twenty  days.  It  is  told  that  during 
these  celebrations  10,000  gladiators  fought  in  the 
amphitheatre  and  11,000  wild  animals  were  killed 
in  the  arena. 

A  marble  column  was  erected  in  honor  of  Trajan's 
victories  in  Dacia.  This  monument  is  still  standing 
in  Rome.  It  is  called  Trajan's  Column.  Many 
scenes  showingr  battles  and  other  events  in  the 
Dacian  war  are  engraved  upon  it  from  the  base  to 
the  top. 


240 


FAMOUS  MEN   OF  ROME 


II 


Trajan  also  had  wars  in  Asia,  and  he  won  many 
victories.  He  conquered  Armenia  and  Mesopotamia 
and  added  them  to  the  empire.  But  he  did  not  live 
to  return   to  Rome.     He  died  in   a  town  in   Asia 


CHARIOT  RACES 


Minor,  which  in  honor  of  him  was  afterwards  called 
Trajanopolis. 

The  Romans  were  much  grieved  at  the  death  of 
Trajan,  for  he  had  been  a  good  emperor  and  had 
done  much  to  benefit  the  people.     He  built  fine 


TRA.JAN  241 

roads  and  canals  and  bridges  in  Italy  and  the 
provinces.  He  greatly  improved  and  beautified 
the  Circus  Maximus.  This  was  the  place  in  which 
the  Romans  had  their  horse  races  and  chariot  races. 
It  was  built  in  the  hollow  between  the  Palatine 
and  Aventine  hills,  and  it  had  seats  for  250,000 
people. 

Trajan  also  made  a  forum  in  Rome,  which  was 
called  after  his  name  the  Trajan  Forum.  In  the 
centre  of  this  forum  the  Trajan  Column  was  built, 
and  around  it  were  temples  and  libraries  estab- 
lished by  the  good  emperor.  For  a  long  time  after 
Trajan's  death  the  people  of  Rome,  whenever  they 
got  a  new  emperor,  used  to  wish  that  he  would  be 
"  as  great  as  Augustus  and  as  good  as  Trajan." 

Some  great  writers  lived  in  Rome  in  the  time  of 
Trajan.  One  of  them  was  Plutarch,  who  wrote  the 
famous  book  called  "Plutarch's  Lives."  This  book, 
which  you  will  perhaps  some  day  read,  contains  an 
account  of  the  lives  of  many  great  men  of  Greece 
and  Rome.  The  historian  Tacitus,  the  poet  Juvenal, 
and  Pliny  the  Younger,  already  mentioned,  also 
lived  in  the  time  of  Trajan. 

Pliny  the  Younger  was  so-called  to  distinguish 
him  from  his  uncle,  Pliny  the  Elder,  wh.0  lived  in 
the  time  of  Nero  and  was  the  author  of  a  celebrated 
work  on  natural  history. 

16 


MARCUS  AURELIUS 


The  next  emperor  was  Trajan's  cousin  Ha'dri-an. 
He  was  a  good  ruler  and  did  a  great  deal  to  improve 
the  city  of  Rome.  He  traveled  through  many  parts 
of  the  empire  to  see  that  the  people  were  justly 
governed  and  that  the  public  officials  were  doing 
their  duty.  He  visited  Britain,  which  was  then  a 
Roman  province,  and  he  caused  a  strong  wall  to  be 
built  from  sea  to  sea  across  the  country  near  Scot- 
land, to  prevent  the  fierce  tribes  of  the  north  from 
making  raids  upon  the  Roman  settlements  in  the 
south.  Some  of  the  remains  of  this  wall  are  still 
to  be  seen. 

Hadrian  also  built  a  great  tomb  in  Rome,  which 
was  called  Hadrian's  Mole.  He  and  many  other 
Roman  emperors  were  buried  in  this  tomb.  It  is 
now  known  as  the-  Castle  of  St.  Angelo. 

When  Hadrian  died  a  very  good  man  named 
An-to-ni'nus  was  made  emperor.  He  showed  such 
filial  regard  for  Hadrian,  by  building  a  temple  in 
his   honor,   that   he   was    called   Antoninus    Pi 'us. 


MARCUS   AURELIUS 


243 


Under  the  emperors  who  ruled  before  Hs  time  the 
Christians  were  very  cruelly  treated.  They  were 
not  allowed  to  have  churches  or  places  of  worship, 
and  numbers  of  them  were  put  to  death  in  the 
most    shocking    manner.      Often    Christians   were 


HADRIAJif'S  MOLE,    NOW  CASTLE  OF  ST.    ANGELO 

thrown   into    the    arena    in    the    Amphitheatre    and 
devoured  by  wild  beasts. 

In  those  times  the  Christians  of  Rome  held  their 
religious  meetings  in  underground  passages  dug  for 
burying  places.  These  Catacombs,  as  they  were 
called,  were  near  the  walls  of  the  city  and 
altogether  were  hundreds  of  miles  in  length.    Along 


244  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

both  sides  of  tlie  tunnels  were  openings,  one  above 
another,  in  which  the  dead  were  buried.  Many  of 
the  Catacombs  have  been  explored  in  recent  times. 
They  are  among  the  "sights"  which  visitors  to 
Kome  are  always  eager  to  see. 

Antoninus  Pius  was  very  friendly  to  the  Chris- 
tians. He  gave  orders  that  they  should  be  allowed 
to  practice  their  religion  and  that  any  one  who  in- 
terfered with  them  should  be  punished. 

The  next  emperor  of  Rome  was  a  very  remark- 
able and  a  very  good  man.  His  name  was  Mar'cus 
Au-re'li-us.  He  governed  the  empire  justly  and  well 
for  nearly  twenty  yeai's.  He  began  to  reign  in  the 
year  161  a.d.  He  was  the  adopted  son  of  the  good 
Emperor  Antoninus.  For  some  time  before  the 
death  of  Antoninus,  he  held  a  high  office  and 
helped  to  'govern  the  empire. 

As  soon  as  he  became  emperor  Aurelius  invited  a 
young  man  named  Ve'rus  to  share  the  throne  with 
him.  Verus  had  also  been  adopted  by  Antoninus. 
The  generous  act  of  Aurelius  surprised  everybody. 
Never  before  was  there  a  Roman  emperor  who 
wanted  to  give  half  of  his  power  to  another  person, 
and  it  seemed  strange  to  the  people  that  Aurelius 
should  do  so.     But  Aurelius  said : 

"I  think  my  adopted  brother  has  a  right  to  be 
emperor  with  me." 


MARCUS  AURELIUS  245 

And  so  Verus  was  made  emperor  witli  Aurelms, 
and  for  the  first  time  Rome  was  ruled  by  two 
emperors.  Verus  had  a  great  respect  for  Aurelius. 
He  seldom  attempted  to  do  anything  in  matters  of 
government  without  asking  his  advice.  But  he  did 
not  have  much  to  do  with  public  affairs.  He  cared 
very  little  about  being  emperor  and  generally  spent 
his  time  in  amusing  himself.  He  was  not  a  good 
young  man,  and  his  conduct  gave  Aurelius  a  great 
deal  of  sorrow.  But  after  nine  years  Verus  died, 
and  Aurelius  was  the  sole  ruler  during  the  rest  of 
his  life. 

In  his  youth  Aurelius  studied  under  the  best 
teachers  in  the  empire,  and  so  had  an  excellent 
education.  He  always  had  an  eager  desire  for 
knowledge  and  was  constantly  learning.  Even  in 
war  times,  when  he  was  fighting  in  the  field,  he 
carried  a  library  with  him  and  could  often  be  seen 
in  his  tent  engaged  in  study.  He  was  one  of  the 
most  learned  of  the  Roman  emperors,  and  his  inti- 
mate friends  were  scholars  and  authors. 

When  a  boy  of  only  twelve  years  he  joined  the 
Sto'ics.  These  were  followers  of  a  famous  wise 
man  or  philosopher  of  Greece,  called  Ze'no.  This 
man  taught  that  the  people  should  act  according  to 
reason  and  virtue,  and  should  keep  an  even  temper 
and  a  brave   heart  under  all  circumstances.     He 


246  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

taught  also  that  men  should  show  neither  joy  nor 
sorrow,  but  control  their  feelings  and  passions,  and 
submit  without  complaint  to  what  could  not  be  pre- 
vented. 

The  followers  of  Zeno  were  called  Stoics,  from 
the  Greek  word  stoa^  which  means  a  roofed  colon- 
nade or  porch.  It  was  in  a  roofed  porch  at  Athens 
that  Zeno  taug:ht  his  doctrine. 

The  Emperor  Aurelius  was  one  of  the  best  and 
most  earnest  of  the  Stoics.  He  carefully  trained 
himself  to  control  his  feelings  at  all  times  and  to 
do  his  duty  honestly  and  faithfully.  The  Romans 
never  had  a  purer  or  nobler  emperor,  or  one  more 
respected  and  beloved.  His  style  of  living  was  very 
simple.  He  had  no  idle  courtiers  at  his  house,  and 
he  kept  only  a  few  servants.  He  gave  no  costly 
dinners  and  entertainments.  He  spent  much  of  his 
salary  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  poor  and  to 
provide  good  schools  for  their  children. 

He  used  to  walk  through  the  streets  of  Rome  in 
plain  clothing,  attended  only  by  a  favorite  slave. 
He  returned  the  greetings  of  the  people  with  bows 
and  pleasant  smiles.  Any  one  could  go  to  him  and 
talk  freely,  and  he  encouraged  the  people  to  tell  him 
about  their  troubles  so  that  he  might  understand 
how  to  help  them. 

He  gave  the  Senate  a  great  deal  of  power  which 


MAIiCUS  AURELIUS  247 

he  thought  it  ought  to  have,  and  gave  back  to  the 
people  many  rights  and  privileges  which  former 
emperors  had  taken  away  from  them.  No  wonder 
the  Romans  loved  him  and  called  him  a  good  man. 


n 


But  the  reign  of  Aurelius  was  full  of  troubles.  In 
the  first  part  of  it  the  Tiber  one  day  overflowed  its 
banks,  and  the  waters  swept  away  a  large  portion 
of  Rome,  destroying  many  lives.  After  this  there 
were  dreadful  earthquakes,  very  destructive  fires, 
and  other  serious  misfortunes. 

There  were  also  many  wars.  There  was  a  war 
with  the  Parthians,  a  brave,  warlike  nation  in  Asia, 
who  destroyed  a  Roman  array  and  then  invaded 
Syria.  Large  armies  were  sent  against  them  and 
they  were  soon  conquered  and  forced  to  pay  homage 
to  Aurelius. 

The  Parthian  horsemen  had  a  strange  way  of 
fighting.  They  were  armed  with  bows  and  arrows 
and  small  spears  called  javelins,  and  were  mounted 
on  very  swift  horses.  They  would  make  attacks  on 
th«  rear  lines  of  the  Romans,  and  when  the  Romans 
turned  to  attack  them  they  would  lash  their  horses 
and  ride  off  as  fast  as  the  wind.  And  while  their 
horses  were  going  at  full  speed  they  would  turn  in 


248 


FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 


their  saddles  and  cast  their  javelins,  or  shoot  their 
arrows  with  wonderfully  accurate  aim. 

After  the  Parthian  war  there  were  wars  with  a 
number  of  wild  tribes  living  in  the  countries  now 
called   Austria   and    Hungary.      The   tribes   there 


A  TIIIUMPH  OF  MARCUS  AUllELIUS 


Tiepolo 


rebelled  against  their  Roman  governors,  and  Aure- 
lius  had  years  of  hard  fighting  before  he  could  sub- 
due them.  He  was  himself  a  remarkably  brave 
and  able  general  and  gained  many  splendid  vic- 
tories. So  at  last  he  taught  the  barbarians  to 
respect  and  obey  the  Romans  who  governed  them. 
Once,  while  Aurelius  was  fighting  a  tribe  called 
the  Qua'di,  his  soldiers   were  hemmed  in  by  the 


MARCUS  AURELIUS  RECEIVING  THE  HOMAGE  OP  THE  PARTHIANS 


250  FAMOUS  MEN  OF  ROME 

enemy,  in  a  small  rocky  valley,  and  suffered  greatly 
from  thirst.  Suddenly  the  sky  darkened  and  rain 
fell  in  torrents.  The  thirsty  soldiers  collected  the 
water  in  thfeir  helmets  and  drank  it  eagerly. 

While  they  were  drinking,  and  their  lines  were 
in  confusion,  the  Quadi  suddenly  attacked  them  in 
large  numbers.  The  Romans  would  have  been  cut 
to  pieces  but  that  there  came  a  violent  hailstorm, 
with  lightning  and  thunder,  which  stopped  the 
battle.  When  the  storm  had  ceased,  the  Romans, 
much  refreshed  by  the  rainfall,  boldly  fought  the 
Quadi  and  won  a  great  victory. 

Some  of  the  Romans  believed  that  the  sudden 
storm  which  relieved  them  so  much  was  caused  by 
the  magical  power  of  an  African  wizard  who  was 
with  the  army  at  the  time.  But  there  was  also  with 
the  army  a  legion  of  soldiers,  some  3,000  in  number, 
who  were  Christians.  The  Christians  had  prayed 
for  rain,  and  they  believed  that  the  rain  came  in 
answer  to  their  prayers.  They  said  that  it  was  a 
miracle  sent  by  God  to  prove  the  truth  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

Now  Aurelius  was  a  pagan.  Some  of  his  Chris- 
tian soldiers  had  tried  to  convert  him  to  their  faith, 
but  they  had  not  succeeded.  He  lived  and  died  a 
believer  in  the  pagan  gods  and  goddesses.  After 
the  strange  storm,  however,  he  seemed  to  have  a 


MARCUS   AURELIUS  261 

greater  respect  for  Christianity,  and  lie  named  his 
Christian  legion  of  soldiers  the  '^Thundering  Legion." 


ni 


Ojs^ce  the  commander  of  the  Roman  armies  in 
Asia,  a  man  named  A-vi'di-us  Cas'si-us,  planned  a 
rebellion  against  Aurelius.  When  everything  was 
ready  Cassius  declared  himself  emperor  and  started 
with  his  army  to  Rome  to  take  possession  of  the 
city.  Aurelius  collected  his  troops  and  went  to 
meet  Cassius ;  but  no  meeting  took  place,  for  Cas- 
sius was  killed  by  his  own  soldiers,  and  the  rebel- 
lion quickly  came  to  an  end. 

Those  who  had  aided  Cassius  were  brought  be- 
fore Aurelius  for  punishment.  But  the  emperor 
would  not  punish  them. 

"  No,  I  will  not  harm  them,"  he  said.  "  I  think 
I  have  governed  the  empire  too  faithfully  and 
liberally  to  fear  plots.  I  can  afford  to  forgive 
traitors.  Let  all  the  friends  of  Cassius  go  free; 
they  are  to  be  pitied  rather  than  punished." 

Aurelius  was  always  very  industrious  and  would 
never  waste  any  of  his  time.  It  was  a  part  of  his 
duty  as  emperor  to  attend  the  games  and  sports 
in  the  Colosseum  and  the  Circus.  Aurelius  cared 
nothing  for  such  sports  and  whenever  he  attended 


262 


FAMOUS  MEN    OF   ROME 


them,  he  always  spent  his  time  at  some  useful  occu- 
pation while  sitting  in  the  splendid  chair  of  state 
provided  for  him.  Sometimes  he  would  study  his 
favorite   books   and   make    notes   from   them,  and 


BULL-FIGHT  IN  THE  ROMAN  CIRCUS 


U  agner 


sometimes  he  would  dictate  letters  and  government 
orders  to  a  secretary.  Thousands  of  excited  Romans 
around  him  would  be  shouting  their  delight  at  the 
sports  in  the  ring,  but  Aurelius  would  go  on  calmly 
with  the  work  he  had  in  hand. 


MARCUS  AURELIUS  253 

"  I  do  not  like  to  waste  my  time  by  sitting  here 
doing  nothing,"  he  would  say.  "  To  waste  time  is 
one  of  the  greatest  ot*  crimes." 

And  so,  by  never  allowing  himself  to  be  idle, 
Aurelius  was  able  to  do  many  useful  things.  He 
established  good  schools  and  hospitals  in  Rome 
and  other  cities  of  Italy.  He  introduced  new 
trades  so  that  the  poor  people  could  get  a  much 
better  living  th£:n  before. 

Aurelius  always  gave  great  encouragement  to  art 
and  literature.  He  welcomed  authors  and  artists  to 
Rome  and  was  always  their  friend.  He  established 
libraries  and  halls  of  paintings  and  statuary.  He 
himself  wrote  several  books. 

It  is  said  that  with  all  his  virtue  the  life  of 
Aurelius  was  not  a  happy  one.  He  had  serious 
troubles  at  times  in  governing  the  empire,  and  the 
cares  of  a  ruler  often  weighed  heavily  upon  him. 
His  wife,  whom  he  dearly  loved,  behaved  veiy 
badly  and  caused  him  much  anxiety,  and  his  only 
son  was  a  very  bad  young  man. 

So  in  the  latter  years  of  his  life  Aurelius  always 
appeared  melancholy.  A  smile  was  seldom  seen 
upon  his  face.  He  died  at  the  city  now  called 
Vienna,  in  Austria,  a.d.  180. 


CONSTANTINE  THE  GREAT 


For  more  tlian  a  hundred  years  after  the  time  of 
Marcus  Aurelius  none  of  the  Roman  emperors  did 
anything  great  or  remarkable.  They  were  nearly 
all  bad  men,  and  many  of  them  were  put  to  death 
for  their  evil  deeds. 

In  the  year  307  a.d.  the  empire  had  been  divided 
up  through  many  quarrels  and  wars  between  gener- 
als of  the  armies.  Often  an  army  would  declare  its 
commander  an  emperor,  and  he  would  set  himself 
up  as  i-uler  of  part  of  the  empire.  So  in  this  way 
there  came  at  last  to  be  six  persons  who  claimed  to 
be  emperors. 

None  of  them  was  in  any  way  remarkable  ex- 
cept the  Emperor  Con'stan-tine,  called  Constantine 
the  Great.  He  was  the  son  of  a  former  emperor 
named  Con-stan'ti-us.  When  Constantius  died  the 
army  chose  Constantine  to  be  emperor.  But  he  did 
not  go  to  Rome  to  be  crowned.  He  remained  in 
Gaul,  for  he  learned  that  five  others  had  taken 
the  title  of  emperor  in  different  parts  of  the  empire. 


CONSTANTINE  THE  GREAT  255 

After  a  while,  however,  Constautine  got  messages 
from  people  in  Kome  begging  him  to  come  and 
relieve  them  from  the  cruel  government  of  Max- 
en'ti-us,  who  was  acting  as  emperor  there.  But 
Constantine  was  a  wise  man.  He  thought  it 
would  not  be  well  for  him  to  leave  Gaul  and 
enter  into  a  fight  with  Maxentius,  so  he  paid  no 
attention  to  the  messages. 

At  last  Maxentius  openly  insulted  Constantine 
and  threatened  to  kill  him.  Then  Constantine  was 
aroused  to  anger,  so  he  gathered  a  great  army  of 
good  soldiers  and  set  out  for  Rome.  He  marched 
over  the  Alps  and  in  a  short  time  was  fighting  tbe 
army  of  Maxentius  on  the  plains  of  Italy. 

The  first  battle  took  place  near  Turin.  The 
soldiers  of  Maxentius  were  clad  in  steel  armor;  but 
Constantine's  men  fought  them  so  fiercely  that  their 
armor  was  of  little  use  to  them,  and  they  were 
speedily  defeated.  There  was  another  battle  at 
Verona,  where  Constantine  was  again  the  victor. 

The  third  battle  took  place  on  the  banks  of  the 
Tiber,  near  Rome.  Maxentius  had  more  soldiers 
than  Constantine,  but  he  was  not  a  good  general,  so 
he  was  easily  beaten.  He  himself  was  drowned 
while  fleeing  across  the  Tiber. 

After  the  battle  Constantine  entered  Rome  amidst 
the  cheers  of  the  people.     A  little  while  afterwards 


^H 

t  \i-      ■     ■      .       '' : 

CONSTANTINE  THE   GREAT  257 

lie  told  an  interesting  stoiy  to  a  Christian  bishop 
named  Eu-se'bi-us.  He  said  that  while  he  was 
marching  through  northern  Italy,  on  the  way  to 
Rome,  he  was  constantly  thinking  about  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  It  had  been  spreading  in  every 
civilized  country  for  more  than  two  centuries,  and 
Constantine  thought  that  he,  too,  should  become  a 
Christian  and  no  longer  worship  pagan  gods.  But 
he  could  not  make  up  his  mind  to  do  so. 

One  day  while  he  was  in  front  of  his  tent,  with 
his  officers  and  troops  around  him,  there  appeared 
in  the  heavens  an  enormous  cross  of  fire.  A  little 
on  one  side  of  the  cross  were  these  words  in  the 
Greek  language,  "  By  this,  conquer."  The  words 
are  sometimes  given  in  the  Latin  form.  In  hoc 
signo  vinces,  the  translation  of  which  is,  "Through 
this  sign  thou  shalt  conquer." 

Constantine  was  astonished  at  the  wonderful 
vision,  and  he  gazed  at  it  until  it  faded  away.  He 
could  not  understand  what  it  meant  and  was 
greatly  troubled.  But  that  night  he  dreamed  that 
Christ  appeared  to  him  in  robes  of  dazzling  white, 
bearing  a  cross  in  His  hands,  and  that  He  promised 
him  victory  over  his  enemies  if  he  would  make  the 
cross  his  standard. 

Constantine  now  declared  himself  a  Christian  and 
had  a  standard  made  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  Avith  a 

17 


CONSTANTINE   THE   GREAT  259 

banner  attached  to  it  bearing  the  initial  letters  of 
the  name  of  Christ.  This  banner  was  called  the 
Lah'orrum,  and  it  was  afterwards  the  standard  of 
the  Koman  emperors. 

When  Constantine  became  a  Christian  himself  he 
began  to  take  the  Christians  into  his  favor.  He  made 
some  of  them  high  officers  of  the  government;  he 
built  Christian  churches  and  destroyed  the  pagan 
temples.  He  also  made  the  Christian  religion  the 
religion  of  the  empire,  and  he  had  the  sign  of  a  cross 
painted  on  the  shields  and  banners  of  the  Roman 
armies. 

Thus,  after  many,  many  years  of  terrible  persecu- 
tion, the  Christians  were  befriended  by  the  Eoman 
emperor,  and  soon  they  became  very  powerful^ 
Thousands  of  Eomans  were  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity, and  the  churches  were  crowded  with  wor- 
shipers. 

n 

Constantine  also  very  much  improved  the  Roman 
laws  and  system  of  government.  He  put  a  stop  to 
the  dishonest  practices  of  the  officers  and  estab- 
lished just  methods  of  carrying  on  public  affairs. 
He  disbanded  the  famous  Praetorian  Guards,  which 
had  been  an  evil  power  in  Rome  for  centuries. 
Many  other  reforms  were  carried  out  by  Constan- 


260  FAMOUS   MEN   OF   ROME 

tine,  who  seemed  anxious  to  do  wliat  Avas  right  and 
what  was  for  the  best  interests  of  the  people. 

Under  Constantine's  rule,  therefore,  Rome  was 
happy  and  prosperous.  To  show  their  gratitude  to 
him  for  his  noble  deeds  the  people  erected  in  his 
honor  a  grand  marble  arch  in  the  central  square 
of  the  city  and  inscribed  on  it : 

"to  the  founder  of  our  peace." 

Four  of  the  six  emperors  who  had  at  one  time 
ruled  the  empire  were  now  dead.  But  in  the  east 
there  was  one  emperor  named  Li-cin'i-us.  Constan- 
tine  attacked  him,  scattered  his  armies,  and  took 
away  from  him  the  greater  part  of  his  territory. 

The  two  emperors  then  became  friends,  but  after 
some  time  they  had  a  quarrel  and  went  to  war 
again.  Each  had  a  large  army  and  a  fleet  of  war- 
ships. Two  great  battles  were  fought,  and  Con- 
stantino won  both.     Licinius  soon  afterwards  died. 

Now  for  the  first  time  Constantine  was  sole 
emperor,  and  for  more  than  fourteen  years  he  ruled 
the  immense  Roman  empire.  He  built  the  most 
magnificent  palace  Rome  had  ever  seen.  He  sur- 
rounded himself  with  hundreds  of  courtiers  and 
lived  in  great  splendor. 

After  a  time  he  resolved  to  move  the  capital 
of  the  Empire  to  a  more  central  place  than  Rome, 


CONSTANTINE   THE   GREAT  261 

and  lie  selected  By-zan'ti-um,  an  ancient  city  of 
Thrace,  at  tlie  entrance  to  the  Black  Sea.  To  this 
city  Constantine  sent  numbers  of  workmen  to  make 
alterations  and  improvements,  and  he  changed  its* 
name  to  Constantinople,  which  means  city  of  Con- 
stantine. He  spent  vast  sums  of  money  in  erecting 
gorgeous  buildings,  making  aqueducts,  constructing 
streets  and  public  squares,  and  in  doing  the  many 
other  things  proper  to  be  done  in  the  capital  of  a 
great  empire.  The  finest  statues  and  other  works 
of  art  that  could  be  obtained  in  Greece,  Italy,  and 
the  countries  of  Asia  ^vere  brought  to  make  Con- 
stantinople beautiful. 

When  everything  was  ready  Constantine  with  the 
officers  of  his  government  removed  to  Constanti- 
nople. He  lived  for  about  seven  years  afterwards. 
There  were  no  further  wars,  except  a  slight  conflict 
with  a  tribe  called  the  Goths,  and  the  people  of  the 
empire  were  contented  and  prosperous. 

Constantine  died  in  Constantinople  at  the  age  of 
sixty-three,  after  a  reign  of  nearly  thirty-one  years. 
'He  was  the  first  Christian  emperor  of  Rome 


END   Of'   THE   WESTERN   EMPIRE. 

Most  of  the  Roman  emperors  after  Constantino' 
were  either  cruel  tyrants  or  very  worthless  persons, 
who  spent  their  time  in  idle  pleasure  and  neglected 
their  duties  to  the  people.  A  few,  however,  did 
some  remarkable  things  and  therefore  deserve  to 
be  mentioned  among  the  Famous  Men. 

One  emperor,  whose  name  was  Ju'li-an,  is  called 
in  history  Julian  the  Apostate,  because  he  gave  up 
the  Christian  religion  and  tried  to  establish  the  wor- 
ship of  the  pagan  gods  again  in  Rome.  Julian  also 
attempted  to  rebuild  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem  which, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  destroyed  by  Titus.  There 
was  a  Christian  prophecy  that  it  would  never  be 
restored,  and  Julian  thought  of  rebuilding  it  to 
prove  the  prophecy  false.  A  story  is  told  that  as 
soon  as  the  men  began  the  work  balls  of  fire  burst 
from  the  ground  close  by  them  and  they  had  to 
stop.  They  tried  again  and  again  and  the  same 
thing  happened,  and  at  last  they  had  to  give  up  the 
work  altogether. 

Not  long  after  he  became  emperor  Julian  set  out 


END    OF   THE    WESTERN   EMPIRE 


263 


with  a  large  army  to  conquer  Persia.  For  a  while 
he  was  very  successful  and  defeated  the  Persian 
king  in  many  battles.  But  one  day  he  was  shot  in 
the  breast  by  an  arrow  and  he  died  soon  after.  It 
is  said  that  Avliile  he  lay  wounded  he  cast  a  handful 


GOLD  IVfEDAL,  OF  THEODOSIUS 


of  his  own  blood  toward  heaven,  crying  out,  "  Thou 
hast  conquered,  O  Galilean."  By  Galilean  he  meant 
Christ,  who  is  sometimes  called  the  Galilean  because 
He  was  brought  up  in  Galilee. 

Not  long  after  the  reign  of  Julian,  there  was  an 
emperor  named  Val-en-tin'i-an.  He  made  his  brother 
Va'lens  emperor  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  empire 
while  he  himself  ruled  over  the  western  part.  And 
for  many  years  afterwards  the  empire  was  ruled  in 


264  FAMOUS   MEN   OF   RO^IE 

this  way  by  two  emperors,  one  called  the  Emperor 
of  the  East,  and  the  other  the  Emperor  of  the  West. 

On  the  death  of  Valentinian  his  son  Gra'ti-an  be- 
came Emperor  of  the  West,  and  a  talented  soldier 
named  The-o-do'si-us  became  Emperor  of  the  East 
on  the  death  of  Yalens.  Gratian  was  weak  and  un- 
fit to  rule,  and  he  was  killed  by  a  Spaniard  named 
Max'i-mus,  who  made  himself  Emperor  of  the  AVest. 

Theodosius  fought  Maximus  and  defeated  him, 
and  afterwards  had  him  put  to  death.  Then  he 
made  a  son  of  Valentinian  Emperor  of  the  West,  as 
Valentinian  II,  and  gave  him  as  his  adviser  a  chief 
named  Ar  bo-gas'tes.  But  Arbogastes  was  soon 
the  real  master  of  the  Western  Empire.  One  day 
Valentinian  was  found  dead  in  his  bed,  and  Arbo- 
gastes then  made  Eu-ge'ni-us,  a  teacher,  the  em- 
peror. Theodosius,  who  well  knew  that  Valen- 
tinian II  had  been  murdered,  made  war  on  Eugenius 
and  Arbogastes  and  defeated  them,  and  until  his 
death,  a  few  months  afterwards  (in  395),  Theodosius 
was  emperor  of  both  East  and  West. 

Theodosius  had  been  a  wise  ruler,  but  he  did  one 
very  bad  thing.  The  people  of  Thes-sa-lo-ni'ca,  a 
city  of  Macedonia,  a  country  north  of  Greece,  had 
killed  their  governor  because  he  had  put  one  of  their 
favorite  circus  riders  in  prison.  When  Theodosius 
heard  of  this  he  was  very  angry,  and  he  gave  orders 


END   OF   THE   WESTERN  EMPIRE 


265 


tiat  they  sliould  be  invited  to  a  show  in  the  circus 
and  there  put  to  death.  This  cruel  order  was 
carried  out.     The  citizens  of  Thessalonica  were  in- 


1 
-  k- 

AMBROSE  llEBUKES   THEODOSIUS 


Vuaul 


vited  to  come  one  day  to  the  circus  to  see  a  grand 
show.  Thousands  came,  and  as  soon  as  they  had 
taken  their  seats  a  troop  of  soldiers  under  the  com- 


266  FAMOUS   MEN   OF   ROME 

mand  of  one  of  the  generals  of  Theodosius  entered 
tlie  building  and  massacred  them  all  without  mercy. 
Over  six  thousand  men,  women,  and  children  were 
killed. 

At  this  time  Theodosius  resided  in  Milan,  a  city 
of  north  Italy.  At  the  same  time  there  lived  in 
Milan  a  bishop  named  Am'brose,  who  was  a  good 
and  holy  man.  When  Ambrose  was  told  of  the 
massacre  at  Thessalonica  he  was  greatly  shocked. 
He  severely  reprimanded  the  emperor  and  would 
not  permit  him  to  enter  the  doors  of  the  church 
until  he  had  done  penance  for  the  sin  he  had  com- 
mitted in  so  cruelly  putting  to  death  many  innocent 
persons. 

The  successor  of  Theodosius  as  Emperor  of  the 
West  was  his  son  Hon-o'ri-us,  who  reigned  for 
twenty-nine  years;  but  the  actual  ruler  during  all 
that  time  was  a  soldier  named  Stiri-cho,  who  was 
the  emperor's  guardian.  Honorius  was  a  simple- 
ton and  had  no  desire  or  ability  to  attend  to  the 
affairs  of  the  government. 

The  Goths  and  Vandals  and  other  barbarous 
tribes  from  the  north  and  east  of  Europe  now  began 
to  overrun  the  Western  Empire  and  to  threaten 
Rome  itself.  Twice  the  great  city  was  actually 
captured  and  plundered ;  the  first  time  by  the  Goths 
under  Al'ar-ic,  and  next  by  the  Vandals  under  a 


END   OF   THE   WESTERN  EMPIRE  267 

bold  warrior  named  Gren'ser-ic.  About  those  bar- 
barian chiefs  and  their  exploits  you  will  perhaps 
read  in  Famous  Men  of  the  Middle  Ages,  a  com- 
panion volume  to  this  book. 

To  defend  the  seat  of  their  empire  against  the 
attacks  of  its  enemies  the  Romans  were  obliged  to 
withdraw  their  forces  from  several  of  the  outlying 
provinces,  including  Britain,  which  was  now  left  to 
its  native  inhabitants.  For  more  than  fifty  years 
afterwards  a  number  of  men  without  much  ability 
took  part  in  ruling  what  was  left  of  the  once 
mighty  empire.  One  of  these  was  called  by  the 
high-sounding  name  of  Romulus  Augustulus.  He 
was  the  son  of  0-res'tes,  the  general  of  the  army  of 
Italy  and  had  been  made  emperor  by  his  father. 
He  was  the  last  of  the  Western  emperors. 

Among  the  Italian  soldiers  there  was  a  huge,  half- 
savage  man  named  0-do-a'cer,  who  belonged  to  a 
wild  northern  tribe.  He  was  a  favorite  of  the  army 
because  of  his  courage  and  strength.  He  resolved 
to  be  the  ruler  of  Italy,  so  with  the  army  at  his 
back  he  put  Orestes  to  death,  took  Romulus 
Augustulus  prisoner,  and  forced  him  to  give  up  the 
title  of  emperor.  Then  Odoacer  became  king  of 
Italy  in  the  year  476  a.d. 

By  this  time  the  world  had  nearly  entered  that 
period  which  is  known  as  the  Middle  Ages,  and 


268 


FAMOUS  MEN   OF   ROME 


many  of  the  other  countries  which  had  been  parts 
of  the  Eoman  Empire  were  either  ruling  themselves 


liOMULUS  AUGUSTULUS   GIVING  UP  THE  CROWN 

or  defending  themselves  against  new  invaders.  Gaul 
was  invaded  and  conquered  by  German  tribes  called 
Franks,  from  whom  the  country  subsequently  got 
the  name,  of  France.  .  Britain,  abandoned    by    the 


END   OF  THE   WESTERN  EMPIRE  269 

Romaus,  was  soon  after  conquered  by  other  German 
tribes.  And  so  at  last  the  great  Roman  Empire 
had  crumbled  to  pieces,  and  Rome,  so  long  the 
Mistress  of  the  World,  as  she  was  called,  had  fallen 
from  her  proud  position  of  grandeur  and  power  into 
that  of  a  second  or  third  rate  city. 

But  the  Empire  of  the  East  continued  to  exist  for 
centuries  afterwards,  with  Constantinople  as  its  cap- 
ital. It  included  many  of  the  countries  of  Asia, 
Africa,  and  eastern  Europe  which  had  formerly  be- 
longed to  the  undivided  Empire.  In  course  of  time 
the  power  of  the  Greeks,  aided  by  the  influence  of 
the  Greek  division  of  the  Church,  became  supreme 
at  Constantinople,  and  so  the  Empire  was  also  called 
the  Greek  Empire,  and  sometimes  the  Byzantine 
Empire,  from  the  ancient  name  of  the  capital. 

In  the  fourteenth  century  the  Turks,  or  Moham- 
medans, then  very  powerful  in  southwestern  Asia, 
began  to  make  inroads  on  the  empire.  They  con- 
quered and  took  possession  of  several  of  its  prov- 
inces, and  in  1453  they  captured  Constantinople, 
which  has  since  been  the  capital  of  the  Turkish,  or 
Ottoman  Empire,  the  ruler  of  which  is  known  as 
the  sultan. 

THE    END 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  desl<  of  any 
University  of  California  Library 

or  to  the 

NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
BIdg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

•  2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 
(510)642-6753 

•  1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing 
books  to  NRLF 

•  Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made 
4  days  prior  to  due  date 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 

SEfyfrONILL 

DEC  1  I  mi 


U.  C.  BERKELEY 
SENtONILL 


AUG  0  5  2003 


U.  C.  BERKELEY 


DD20  1M  3-02 


XC  82160 


Smitk  Bros. 

Booksellers,  Art  Dealers^ 

Stationers. 

472  -  J3th  Su,  Oakland,  Cat 


